1763 
C31 
opy 1 




J3Y j^EAU pAMPBELL. 




On the Caknival Pay. 



AROUND THE CORNER 



TO 



CUBA 




BY REAU CAMPBELL 

Author of " Winter Cities in a Summer Land ;" " Rambles for Summer Days ; " "54;" 

"The Corner of the Continent;" "Vi and Jack;" " Hook and I;" 

"Cuba in Easy Lessons;" "Palm Leaves of Florida, a Trip 

from Passadumkeag to Okeechobee ; " etc., etc. 



1889 : 
C. G. CRAWFORD, 

New York, 



Its 

,c-j\ 



NEW YORK : 

Press of c. g. Crawford, 

49 4 51 Park place 



2-96/<^ 



[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1889, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, 

at Washington.] 




AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



HE little Island around the corner of the continent is 
a land of pure delight, where every day is summer, 
where the whistling blizzards from the northland 
simmer to the gentle fanning of a zephyr as on a 
May day, where summer clothes do business in 
December, where fans are a legal tender all the year 

round and overcoats always at a discount ; where 
blue mountains lift up in craggy peaks to the lighter blue of the brightest 
skies, where rolling hills topped with feathered palms and cocoas roll down to 
valleys luxuriant, green with waving fields of cane, or the long leaves of that 
weed which so fragrantly ends in smoke and delightful reveries ; where pretty 
women are clad in the lightest and laciest of costumes, nor sigh for seal skins ; 
where age and beauty go hand in hand, and every man grows anarchistic when 
he thinks about it, to overturn the laws that make senorita and duenna go in double 
harness ; where there is more play than work to keep Jack from being a dull boy, 
where the advertiser must do as he advertises, or hang ; where soft sensuous melodies 
delight at the opera or the dance, and the vivacious notes of animated music excite at 
the bull fight ; where the spelling-book maker who wrote, " I had some green corn 
on a plate in July," did not live. 

That's Cuba. 

To many, Cuba has been only the scene of a romantic novel, the memory of a 
geography lesson, or the whence-ness of good cigars, and to travelers a far-off 
country that few ever got to, but always remembered with mucho gusto and was the 
subject of many a fascinating reminiscence told to the listeners at home, held entranced 
by such tales of travel ; but to-day Cuba lies at our very doors. 

Another reminiscence of Cuba, not attended by a superabundance of fascination, 
was the long voyages in wintry seas, necessary to reach the shores of that queen of 
the isles of summer. The memories of Hatteras were not always pleasant to recall, 
and the traversing of the Gulf, not at all times plain sailing. In mortal dread of 
the inevitable mal de mer, many a winter tourist has applied the only remedy for that 
ill by staying ashore, preferring the little ounce of prevention rather than be com- 
pelled to try the pounds of alleged cures, and perhaps, threw up a trip that was to 
be the realization of a tour through an enchanted land, whose beauties were known 
only from the tales told by more venturesome travelers. 

The memories of my journey to and through Cuba are all pleasant ones. It was 
the leaving behind of snow-clad hills, and the whirling wheels of a Pullman whiten- 
ing the car with the flakes scattered from its pathway, soon rolled me under brighter 
skies, through the orange groves of Florida, down where the palm trees grow. 

On a long pier, out over the water, the wheels stopped, and I passed from my 
berth to the cosiest stateroom, which was to be my home during my short "life on 
the ocean wave." i 

Leaving from Port Tampa, where the change from the cars to the ship is without 
transfer of distance, and may be likened only to a change of cars across the platform, 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



the voyage is like that over a lake of placid waters, down the coast of Florida to 
Key West, where a stop is always made for the discharging and receiving of freight. 
There is time at Key West for a ramble or a drive around the island ; for just how 
long, ask the captain. 

This is only a ferry from America to Spain. The ship leaves Key West, and 
while you sleep crosses the Gulf Stream, and when you wake the sun maybe shining 
over the towers of Morro Castle, and your awakening be in a newer world to you, but 
an older one than your grandiather's. 




MORRO CASTLE. 



Ships sail from New York and New Orleans, sailing down the east coast of the 
United States or across the Gulf of Mexico, as of old, and those who like a long sea 
voyage may have their choice of those routes to Cuba. But if the " ferry" is pre- 
ferable, take the Pullman to Port Tampa and cross over as I did. 

THE GETTING READY. 

When a journey to foreign ports is to be made, a passport must be thought of. 
But when the destination is Cuba, that state paper is wholly unnecessary. So says 
the Queen Begent of Spain in a royal decree promulgated July 30, 1887, and the 
only protective "document needed is the certificate of a notary public that the 
bearer is an American citizen, and he may have the freedom of the island, to go 
where he listeth, and depart on the homeward journey "when he will, with no one to 
question or require vised papers. 

MONEY 

is a passport most anywhere, and a most valuable and convenient one everywhere, 
and in Cuba, as other places, is essential, though not more so than elsewhere, the 
hotel and traveling expenses not being above the average tariff. 

It is not necessary to buy Spanish gold or Cuban paper before starting, because 
the bankers on the Island will pay the highest prices for greenbacks, American gold, 
or New York exchange, and the tourist may suit his pleasure or convenience as to 
what shape his funds are in, and, after arrival at destination, can deposit his 
home money in an American banker's vaults, and draw the Cuban currency or 
Spanish gold, a? i* is needed for daily use. A letter of credit from reliable bankers 
in the United States will also be honored by American bankers in Cuba. 

Hotel bills and railway fares are payable in Spanish gold, or its equivalent in 
Cuban paper ; purchases in stores or shops are charged in gold or paper, the infor- 
mation being announced with the price. Cab fares, tickets to theatres and places of 



around the corner to cub a. 



amusement are priced in paper ; also cigars 
and liquid refreshments have a paper value. 

The paper currency is very much depreci- 
ated ; one American dollar will usually buy 
two and a half in Cuban paper — our dollars 
and cents translate to pesos y centavos in Cu- 
ban ; in Spanish gold (oro espanol) an onza 
is worth $17.00; half onza, $8.50; a centen, 
$5.30; a doblon, $4.25; an escudo, $2.12, of 
American money. 

Postage to the United States is five cents 
(cinco centavos) per two ounces or fraction of 
an ounce. Cablegrams to New York, fifty 
cents per word, with a corresponding tariff 
to other cities. 

The tourist will find it to his interest to 
call on an American banker soon after ar- 
rival, and post himself financially as to rates 
of exchange, etc. The bankers will be found 
to be most courteous and obliging, and ready 
to assist their compatriots at all times. 

THE ARRIVAL AT HAVANA. 

A ship not sailing under the Spanish flag, 
cannot enter the port of Havana between sun- 
set and sunrise, a custom long enforced by 
the government, which, if it was intended 
for the tourists' pleasure, could not have 
suited him better, because the ships' sche- 
dules are so arranged that arrival is made at 
sunrise, and when she sails up under the 
guns of Morro Castle, with the brightening 
daylight tinging the eastern sky and showing 
the frowning walls of Morro and Cabana, and 
behind them the distant hills through whose 
crowning palm trees the earliest sunshine is 
streaming, the picture is wonderfully beauti- 
ful, and a look to the starboard shows the 
city just awakening, and ready to give you 
the warmest welcome. 

At the entrance of harbor on the east side 
is Morro Castle, just back of which on the 
same side is Cabana Castle. On the other side, 
opposite Morro, is La Punta, the forts con- 
stituting the defense of the city from attacks 
by sea. Sailing past these forts the ship 
comes to anchor in mid-stream. No foreign 
vessel ever goes to a pier at Havana. 

The "doctor's boat" comes alongside just 
after the ship has entered the harbor, and by 
the time anchorage is made opposite the 




Around The corner to cub a. 



Custom. House, the health and port officers have examined the papers and given per- 
mission for the passengers to disembark. 

In the meantime there have come out to meet the ship what seems to be a hundred 
country wagons, afloat with their wheels under the water — these are the boats that 
are to take the passengers ashore — boats with bowed awnings, for all the world like 
a country wagon down in Tennessee ; these are propelled by oars or sail (I mean the 
boats not the Tennessee wagons) and the fare to the Custom House is 25 cents. 
There have come out, also to meet the tourists, agents of the various hotels, agents 
polite and attentive without being obtrusive, speaking English and Spanish, and un- 
less one is posted or speaks the language, it is well to select the hotel and turn your 
baggage over to him, as some of the hotels have their own boats and carts for transfer 
of baggage. The rowing to shore is but the work of a few moments, and the novel 
ride winds up at the stone steps of the 

CUSTOM HOUSE. 

Here all baggage must be examined by the Customs officers, who are most liberal 
and courteous gentlemen — you declare your baggage, that there is nothing but your 
personal effects and no dutiable articles, a hasty look to carry out the law, the thing 
is done and you may proceed to your hotel — there are no delays except when there 
is a crowd of tourists, then, if desired, keys may be le^ft with the hotel agents and 
the travelers go on to 

THE HOTELS. 

The tourist, especially he who has listened to the yarns of the old-time travelers, 
will be most agreeably surprised when he discovers the many excellencies that per- 
vade the best hotels in Cuba, in parlor, dining-room and bed-chamber. All of the old 
objectionable customs and arrangements have been done away with, and very many 
innovations introduced that brings them very near^ the modern standard of the 
American hotel. 

There is a register, of course, and you are expected to write more of your personal 
history than usually appears on the register of your native land. The book is ruled 
in columns, and each has its heading ; the first is Fecha de Entrada, date of arrival ; 
the next is Nombres, names, then the Naturalidad or nationality ; next Residencia, 
residence ; then the one that ladies, at least, should not be required to fill out, the 
one which shows Edad, age of the guest ; the next is also peculiar, it is Estado, the 
state of the arrival, married or single, I suppose, as the average is sober. Then fol- 
lows the Profesion column, to show your profession ; after that is the one showing 
Procedendo,, whence you went, then Fecha de Salida tells date of departure, and the 
last column is Numero de Orden, giving the number of guests. 

These columns are not now imperatively used, but in the days of wars, revolu- 
tions and insurrections, when they wanted to know all about everybody they were 
required to be filled out, but the war taxes remain as at home, and a revenue stamp 
must be placed on the register opposite each name. 

Bell-boys are plenty and very properly do not wait in the office but on the floor 
where they attend, so when you ring he does not have to tramp up four flights to 
find out what is wanted, tramp down £nd then back to your room. The Cuban bell- 
boy waits near the annunciator on each floor, ring your bell and he is at your door 
in a moment, and not with a pitcher of ice-water — they don't drink ice-water in Cuba 
— at least Cubans don't ; an earthen jar, very porous, so that the water does not get 
too warm, is placed in each room and kept filled with fresh water, so that only 
Americans call for ice-water, and that is brought in a glass, as it is not supposed 
that anybody wants much ice- water. 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 







TSyMT^lN DE UA iHDlAk 






8 AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



An early morning ring from the average room means coffee, in Spanish cafe, but 
from the American occupied room it may mean "cocktail," for which there is no 
Spanish word, and the American one is adopted and understood, and I may say, well 
made. 

The bell-boy is usually very bright and can do odd jobs in translation for you, in 
a small way. If you hand him the water-jug and don't know how to tell him what 
to put in it, he will fill it, bring it back and say agua (ah-wah) with a look of pity 
on your want of education, though he is willing to teach you, as he evidences when 
you write a note to the office for pen and ink, he brings it back and hands it in with 
the remark " la pluma y tinta" so you'll know next time, if your memory serves you, 
and the bell-boy may not know you have paper and envelopes, and if he brings them 
it is with the further information that they are called " el papel y sobres." 

The Cuban bell-boy is a complete success. 

The bedrooms of the Cuban hotel are novel in the extreme. The floors are tiled 
with a brownish red tiling, with rugs in front of the bed, dresser, table and toilet 
stands. The bedsteads are of iron, brass or mahogany, all with the whitest of cano- 
pies, of light material, furnished with snowy sheets and pillows ; and, as an agent 
of one hotel told me on my first arrival in 1886, if I would go to his house, I would 
find mattresses on the beds. It was easy for me to imagine that a mattress would be an 
immense advantage to a bed, and hard for me to understand how any bed could do a 
successful business without one. But I learned later that in summer days there is 
too much warmth in a mattress, and that sleep was only obtainable on a stretch of 
canvas corded to the bedstead, or on a woven-wire mattress and a sheet, and that in 
the early days of tourist travel this style of bed was used the year round. The covers 
used are light and scarcely ever needed in winter. 

Coffee is served at any hour desired, in your room or in the dining-room ; break- 
fast from nine till noon ; dinner from five to eight p. m. ; and in the dining-room is 
where the most grateful surprises await the tourist. The menu is ample, and the 
dishes nicely prepared. There are many familiar ones and some mysterious, but I 
was never disappointed in one, and soon was not afraid or suspicious. The vegetables 
and fruit were fresh and crisp — no hot-house forcings or stale importations, but 
just in from the gardens. The fish were superb, being taken direct from the water 
to the frying-pan, it being against the law to sell a dead fish. They must be taken 
alive and kept in floating coops till sold. The meats were sweet and well prepared, 
the poultry young and tender. This was my experience wherever I stopped. Ice is 
an expensive luxury in Cuba, and all productions must be consumed at once, 
nothing can be kept in the market. Eggs must be new-laid always, or no sale. 
Milkmen don't drive wagons, and can only water their stock in the way provided 
by nature — give it to the cows to drink — and when he sells milk, he drives his 
herd around town and milks at the door of his customer, and the out-put is im- 
mediately boiled. 

The rates at Ctiban hotels are about the same as at the same class houses in 
America, and are conducted on both plans, American and European ; but it is best to 
understand the terms when you register — which is a good rule in this country as 
well. The figures are from $3 to $5 per day, wines extra. The price includes room, 
coffee and fruit in the morning, breakfast and dinner. Families and parties can have 
suites with private parlors and dining-rooms. English-speaking chambermaids are 
in attendance on the ladies' apartments, and all toilet arrangements are complete on 
each floor. 

Every hotel has its corps of interpreters, who are courteous and obliging and 
will attend parties to the theatres and on sight-seeing tours. These gentlemen are 
on the hotel staff ; but it is customary to remunerate their service— it must be left to 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 9 



the guest's appreciation of the service to say what the amount will be — but I will say 
that in most cases the money is well earned. 

Now that the tourist is comfortably bestowed in one of the good hotels of Havana 
he must see the city — nobody walks, it must be done 

IN A CAB. 

There are thousands of them, easily found night or day in any part of city. Each 
cab is a four-wheeled victoria, equipped with one horse and one "driver and generally 
speaking all in good condition, capable of making good time, and at a rate that is 
astonishingly low — the fare to any point east of Belascoain avenue is only 40 cents, 
in paper, for one or two persons, equal to 16 cents in United States money ; for 
three persons the fare is 50 cents ; beyond the avenue the fare increases to 50 and 60 
cents. 

If there are several places to visit the cab had best be secured by the hour at 
$1.35 for two or $1.85 for three persons per hour — if so engaged say "por hora" 
when you get in and tell the driver where to go. 

How ? 

Oh, you don't speak the language. Just call the name of the place, it is not 
necessary to fatigue yourself by translating the phrase "drive to," the driver will 
understand the situation, if you get in and say "Correo" he will "drive to" the 
post office, or La Punta, the point opposite Morro at the terminus of the " Prado," the 
Gatedral, La Merced, SanAugustin if you are going to church ; or "Plaza de Toros" 
if your taste carries you to the bull fights the cab will — or if to the theatres say 
" Tacon," Irijoa (ery-ho-a) or Albisu. To the railways, " Ferro-carril de la Bahia," 
" Ferro-carril de la Habana" or " Ferro-carril del Oeste." If to any particular street 
call the name of it and look out for the number of the desired address. If you get 
muddled beyond the hope of extrication and your vocabulary is exhausted call the 
name of your hotel, go back, get the interpreter to speak for you and start out 
again. 

The best way to call a cab in Havana is to whistle for it (if you can), and when 
you have attracted the driver's attention, motion with your hand for him to go away 
and he will drive right up, (this reminds me they do many things upside-down in 
Cuba, the key holes in the doors are made that way). 

In driving through the streets it is easy to become confused, but if you will 
remember that the streets are so narrow that a city ordinance requires to drive down 
certain streets and up others — so if your driver does not go down the one desired, 
don't be alarmed, he will go down the one next to it and come up the other. 

At the end of trip, or the time the cab was taken for, pay the driver, or he will 
wait at the door and count time on you ; an imported trick from the United 
States. 

These cabs of the Victoria pattern are an innovation in Havana, on account of the 
narrow streets were introduced some time ago to supplant the unwieldy, long- 
shafted and hard-to-turn-round volanta — an easy -riding vehicle, propelled by one 
horse in shafts and another buckled alongside to carry the driver, or, rather, pos- 
tillion, as he rides the other horse — but both horses travel so far ahead of the 
volanta that very few of them could get into any one part of town at a time, and in 
case of a block, must have gone to the country to turn round. The increase of 
business down town drove the volanta from Havana — but they might be used to 
great profit and pleasure in the parks and drives, and it is a wonder some enter- 
prising liveryman does not re-introduce them. Every American would take a ride 
in a volanta just to talk about it at home. Volantas are used now only at Matanzas, 
for excursions to the Yuniuri Valley and the Caves of Bella Mar. 



10 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



Besides cabs and volantas, there are other and cheaper methods of locomotion in 
Cuban cities. I refer to the inevitable and irrepressible. 

HORSE CARS AND STAGES. 

The fares are ten, twenty and thirty cents in paper, according to the distance 
traveled. One line at Havana leads out Charles III. avenue to the Botanical Gar- 
dens, Base Ball Grounds, and the Plaza de Toros (Bull-Ring), another to Cerro, 
one along the shote in front of the city, another to the famous Henry Clay Cigar 
Factory. Cars start from Plaza San Juan de Dios every fifteen minutes from 
6 a. m. to 10.30 p. m. 




CENTRAL PARK BY GASLIGHT. 



The stages have a uniform fare of twenty cents in paper, which is higher in propor- 
tion than the cabs, being about eight cents in American money. Starting from Plaza do 
Armas and the Castillo del Principe, they run to Jesus del Monte and the Cemetery. 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 11 

There are no "bob-tail" cars, you are not to be trusted to "put the exact fare in 
the box." A uniformed conductor punches in the presence of the passenger. 

There is another way to see the city which involves still less outlay of capital — 
that means of going which was in fashion in the days of Adam. The 

WALKS ABOUT HAVANA 

are attractive, out they must not be long walks, and are most pleasant in the evening. 
Walking in Havana is not popular at best, the sidewalks are not built that way, many 
of them are scarcely three feet wide and some in the business district are less than 
two, while in the new city there are some that will compare favorably with other 
cities. It is said that the curbs in the old portion were originally laid to prevent 
wheels from defacing the walls of the buildings. 

In the Campo de Marte, on the Prado, in Central Park, are excellent promenades. 
On certain evenings of the week fashionable Havanese drive to Central Park, stop 
opposite the Statue of Isabella, and listen to the music of the military band, and 
promenade up and down the plaza. Here you may see la Cubana in all her dark-eyed 
beauty, with snowy laces and mantillas falling gracefully over head and shoulders. 
The carriage stops at the curb, in an instant it is surrounded with cavaliers, dark and 
black mustached. La Senorita enjoys the homage so gallantly paid ; the duenna, I 
think, often pays strict attention to the music, to give the girl a chance, but if she 
left the carriage, the duenna went also, perhaps with watchful eye and ear only half 
turned to the music. The Central Park is one of the places to walk to in the evening 
when the band plays, but if you want to sit and rest, chairs are twenty cents each. 
Another walk in the morning, is along the Prado from the Statue of India to La Punta, 
all the way under the laurels that shade the street. 

From any of the hotels one may also walk to 

THE THEATRES. 

Havana has elegant places of amusement that would ornament a greater city. The 
Tacon is the third largest theatre in the world, La Scala at Milan and the theatre at 
Seville, in Spain, only being larger. The Tacon is the home of opera in Havana. 
There are five tiers of boxes, one above the other, extending all around the house. 
These boxes seat six people, and are patronized by the elite — always in full dress. 
Behind the boxes is a wide passage-way, through which one may pass from one box 
to another, or serves as a promenade between the acts — and between the acts is filled 
with promenaders, with visitors, and with lookers-on through the Venetian blinds 
into the boxes occupied by some especially brilliant party — and it is said that boastful 
belles brag on the size of the crowd that assembled behind the box and watched the 
beauties within. 

The Albisu is the theatre of the Casino — the swell club of the city. Every Cuban 
city has its Casino Club, noted for its balls and entertainments. 

The Irijoa (e-ry-hoa) is called the summer theatre because it is arranged with 
Venetian blinds from the roof to the foundation, instead of solid walls, and by a simple 
turning of the slats admits the breezes that nearly always blow in Cuba ; this theatre 
is surrounded by a garden into which the audience empties itself to drink pennies, 
eat ices, or smoke between the acts, and are recalled to the auditorium by a bell like 
unto that on a locomotive. 

Managers of Cuban theatres are particular as to music, it must be good ; the 
orchestras may be mixed as to race of the performers, but their performances are 
satisfactory ; often in third class theatres one hears as good or better music than in 
the best American theatres, 



12 AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



Each performance at a place of amusement has its president appointed by the 
municipal government, his duties are to settle differences between the audience and 
the performers and to preserve order. A Cuban audience is critical, insists on the 
granting of encores when demanded, and goes behind the scenes between the acts ; 
this is their prerogative. It is told of a prestidigitateur who advertised the decapita- 
tion act, but whose wires and paraphernalia were so disarranged by his visitors behind 
the scenes that he could not illusively cut off his own head, and was disposed to cut 
that part of the programme as he could not carry it out actually without physical 
discomfort to himself ; the audience insisted ; the president decided for the audi- 
ence ; the illusionist was in despair, but did not lose his head ; he went to work, 
repaired his traps, and did the trick amid the applause of his audience. 

At every theatre or other place of amusement a box decorated with the coat of 
arms and colors of Spain is reserved for the Captain-General and remains vacant un- 
less he attends or sends a representative. Seats are also reserved for the press, and 
names of the papers are pasted on the seats. 

The prices of admission are about the same as American theatres, the price at the 
Tacon is $5 and $6 in paper, at other performances $3 to $4 is the figure — some thea- 
tres sell a seat for a single act for a dollar — and at most theatres the general entrance 
is only $1 to $1.50 but does not include a seat. Seat coupons are collected by the 
ushers prior to the opening of the last act. Speculators sell almost the entire house 
on the sidewalk, though reserved seats may be bought beforehand. It is best not 
to pay a speculator the first price asked, as he always tacks it on and will reduce 
before he will miss a sale. 

After the opera is over the audience vacates the theatre with a rush, and coming 
out, unanimously holds a handkerchief over the mouth and nostrils to prevent the 
breathing the night air, some get into carriages and are whirled home but many 
gentlemen and ladies frequent the cafes and enjoy ices, coffee, and other refresh- 
ments. 

The gala days for theatres and other amusements are Sundays and church feast 
days, then are they all filled to overflowing, to standing room only, as are the 

COCK AND BULL FIGHTS. 

These take place on Sundays only, and both are popular sports in Cuba. The 
cock fights are of minor importance compared to the other. They take place in a 
pit very much like the wheat and stock pits in a Chicago or New York exchange, 
and the calls of the bettors are about as intelligible in one as the other. Around a 
ring about twelve feet in diameter are arranged seats like unto a circus — here sit the 
lookers-on. The owners of the birds and the bettors are everywhere, in the ring 
and out of it, on the seats and under them. On a balance suspended from the roof 
are hung bags, each containing a chicken — they must balance exactly — which is the 
only fair part of the fight. They are taken out of the bags, and with long keen 
knives fastened to their spurs they are placed in front of each other — it is not a ques- 
tion of courage or endurance, but as to which gets the first strike — one fowl is 
always killed and often both, and it takes only a minute to settle the difficulty — the 
dead cock is removed and two fresh birds introduced with the same result all day 
long. At the 

PLAZA DE TOROS, 

or Bull Eing, the programme is pretty much the same, only on a larger scale. 
Bull fighting is to Cuba and Spain what base ball is to the United States, and the 
" bloods " of that country become amateurs in that sport as they do at ball in this — 
and also as in this country the stars are imported and the company, also the bulls. 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



13 



In the season of 1886-7 Mazzantini came from Spain with his banderilleros and 
picadores and brought eighty thorough-bred bulls. Bulls are I ' in Spain for their 
fighting qualities as race-horses are in Kentucky for their speed, and the great 
Matador was paid $40,000 for thirteen performances, 

Mazzantini received a classical education at Rome, and after graduation returned 
to Madrid and was rapidly promoted in the railroad business. He was an amateur 
matador, and was so proficient that he soon became a professional and quickly 
became a star. 




The attraction in 1887-8 at Havana was Guerra, called Guerrita on account of his 
small stature, but a matador of the first magnitude ; his debut is of but recent date, 
and, like Mazzantini, was a star at the conclusion of his first performance. On that 
occasion the primer espada was killed by the first bull, his assistant disabled, Guer- 
rita was left alone to kill his eight bulls of the perf ormance, and he came out of the 
ring famous. 

Guerra also brought his own company and imported bis live stock ; his terms 
also, thirteen times for $40,000. 

The " Plaza de Toros " is in shape very much like the cyclorama buildings of 



14 



ABOUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 






America, only much, larger ; inside is a monster amphitheatre seating thousands of 
people. Encircling the arena is a high fence or barrier with a foot-rail about eighteen 
inches from the ground, on the inside, on which the performers step and leap over 
the fence when too closely pursued by the bull, landing in an open space between 
the audience and the ring. 

The opening of the performance is brilliant and exciting, the audiences are nearly 
always large, sometimes numbering fifteen to twenty thousand, all eager for the fray. 
Gay colors are everywhere, bands are playing the liveliest airs, and all is excitement . 
The feeling of an American under the circumstances is one of amazement and anxious 
expectation. There is a grand flourish of trumpets, a gaily caparisoned horseman 
dashes in, gallops to the President's box, a key is thrown to him, it is the key of the 
door leading to the pens where the animals are kept ; the horseman catches the key, 
woe be to him if he don't, and gallops back to the entrance and disappears ; if the 
key is not caught the man is hissed out of the ring. Another flourish of trumpets 
and loud huzzas from twenty thousand throats announces the coming of the 
company. 

It is, indeed, a brilliant spectacle, the matadores and landerilleros on foot and pica- 
dares on horseback, all clad in the gayest, gaudiest costumes, in all colors and gold 

embroideries, they march to the President's 
box : the President is a municipal or State 
officer, and has full direction of the pro- 
ceedings. He is saluted by the company 
and the fight is ready to commence. 

Now the wildest excitement prevails, 
and the scene is a perfect picture of pande- 
monium ; all eyes are turned toward the low 
strong doors under the band stand ; they 
are thrown open, and from a darkened pen 
the bull bounds into the ring. As he passes 
under the rail a steel barb, with ribbons 
attached, showing the breeder's colors, is 
fastened in his shoulder. He gallops to the 
middle of the ring, stops and looks about 
with fear and astonishment. He is a grand-looking beast. Surprise and fear give way 
to rage, he paws the earth and snorts in his frenzy, and discovering the red cloak of 
the espada starts towards him on the run. 
The man goes over the fence, but not too 
quickly, for he has hardly disappeared be- 
fore the bull's horns are thrust through the 
boards. The animal turns and spies a 
horse, and woe be unto the horse, his day 
has come ; the picador with his lance is 
totally unable to keep the bull from gor- 
ing the horse, and it is killed on the 
spot. The horses are not valuable ones, 
being old veterans retired from service, 
feasted and fattened to friskyness for 
this occasion, are blindfolded and ridden 
in to certain dearth. Another man is 
chased out of the ring and another horse 
severely wounded ; a signal from the President and a bugle call directs the horses 
to be removed. 




THE COMING OF THE COMPANY. 




THE FALL OF THE PICADOR. 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



15 




BANDERILLERO CALLING THE BULL. 



Now comes the really interesting feature of the performance, the thrusting of 

the banderillas. The bull is alone with his tormentors, it is a contest between 

skill and brute strength. A banderilla is a 
wire about two feet and a half long, on 
the end is a very sharp barbed point, the 
wire is covered its entire length with 
colored paper ribbons. The banderillero 
is the man who places them in the bull's 
shoulders, he must stand in front of the ani- 
mal, without flag or cloak, must stand still 
and wait the attack. The bull, maddened 
at his audacity, starts at him at full speed, 
the man steps out of his way gracefully, 
and skillfully thrusts the banderillas in the 
bull's shoulders as he passes by (they 
never speak as they pass by), as soon as the 

animal can check his headlong speed lie turns, now furious with rage, he turns, 

only to find another banderillero with two more banderillas. These and two more 

are thrust into his shoulders, all hanging 

there. Bellowing now, he is wild. 

Another signal from the President in- 
structs that the bull has had enough and 

must be killed — this is where the matador, 

the primer espada, distinguishes himself, 

his skillful killing of the bull by a single 

thrust of the sword is what determines the 

brilliancy of the star. The matador must 

face the bull, sword in hand, and await 

the attack, it is assassination to strike 

while he is at rest and calls for hisses and 

missiles from audience. The blood-red 

cloth or muleta is flaunted in front of the bull. The maddened animal closes his 

eyes and makes one more dash for life and falls in death, the sword of the 

matador is thrust between the shoulders 
to the hilt and has pierced the animal's 
heart. 

Wild bursts of applause fill the air, 
hats, canes, cigars by the bushel are 
thrown into the ring by the delighted 
spectators, men shout and sing, ladies 
wave their handkerchiefs and mantillas, 
the matador bows his acknowledgments, 
throws the hats and canes back to their 
owners, who seem grateful that he should 
honor them thus. 

The band plays, the gates are opened, 

three gaudily decorated mules harnessed 

rope is thrown over the dead bull's horns and he is 




THE THRUSTING OF BANDERILLAS. 




INCITING THE BULL WITH THE MULETA 



abreast are driven in, a 
dragged out. 

The wait between the acts is not more than a minute, the bugle calls, the low 
doors open and another bull gallops in, and thus till sis are killed at each performance. 
The skill and agility of the performers is something wonderful and consists in holding 



16 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 







THE THRUST OF THE SWORD. 



the red cloak in such a way that the bull rushes for the cloth instead of him who 

holds it, the bull shuts his eyes and does not see the man as he quickly steps to one 

side and escapes, but often he must save 
his life by flight and a leap over the barrier 
around the ring, and I have seen an infu- 
riated bull follow him right over into the 
circle between the ring and seats. 

When the last bull is dead the audience 
disperses in good humor, if the fights 
have been well done, if not, they hoot and 
hiss, throw chairs and other missiles into 
the ring and it would seem they would 
mob the fighters, it is either that or to 
unhitch the horses and drag the carriages 
to the hotel. 

The tickets for the bull fights are sold at high or low prices, according to the mag- 
nitude of the star performing at the time, ranging from six to eight dollars for seats 

on the shady side, and three to four on the 

sunny side of the amphitheatre ; private 

boxes are sold at twenty and thirty dollars, 

besides the cost of general entrance, two 

to three dollars for each person, thus it is 

that bull fighting is an expensive luxury, 

it comes high but they must have it — the 

American goes once anyhow, and if it were 

not for the horse feature would go oftener, 

but it is not likely that part of the play 

would be cut to suit so small a minority 

of the patrons. 

Speaking of cigars as thrown to the 

bull-fighters in approval of their daring — I 

have wondered if the cigar-thrower doesn't often think "you have fought the bulls 

and came out safe, now try that cigar " — for they were wicked looking cigars. 
About the first thing an American thinks of on landing is 



•TtfSjvA 




THE CARRYING AW AT OF THE BULL. 



WHERE TO GET A CIGAR? 



and nine times out of ten his first smoke in Cuba rivals in bitterness the first of his 
life. A good cigar to the Cuban would seem vile to the smoker from the United 
States, and those on sale at the stands are not intended for other than Cubans. 
Ninety -nine per cent, of Cubans smoke, but none chew tobacco — I mean ninety -nine 
per cent, of the men. Cigarettes are charged to the ladies, but the act of smoking 
never came under my observation — though they do not object to smoke — the men 
smoke everywhere and at all times and under all circumstances. 

Cigars are made for all nations, and a different cigar for each nation — hence do not 
buy a cigar till you know where to get one made for this country, or you will lose 
faith in the reputation of Cuba's chief product. ' Different nations require different 
sizes as well as qualities — Europeans using the largest and Americans the smallest 
cigars. The eight-hundred-dollar-gold-wrapped Sober an os of the Henry Clay factory 
is twice the size of any American cigar, and would cost $1.50 each — not much sale 
here — these go to the nobility of England, while the dainty little Bouquets or Perfectos 
come to America. There are stands where you can buy cigars you will like, and for 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



17 



half the money they cost at home ; but it is best to go to the factory and buy a sup- 
ply for two or three days' smoking — any of the factories will sell a single box, and 
the proprietors will be found to be most courteous gentlemen ; and when one finds 

what elegant cigars can be sold for very much less than 

home prices one becomes a free trader at once, no 

matter how much of a protectionist before. 

The laws of the United States do not allow 

the traveler to bring a single cigar 







past the Custom 

House ; if the officer 

passes a few dozens it is ~^^^S§S&£& ^J*' ^ 

purest courtesy — the fallacy of ^^H^?... ^^-r "I 

"49 "or "99" being admitted free 

of duty has no foundation in the statute 

— and when an American smokes a cigar in 

Cuba it is with a peculiar satisfaction at the thought 

that he is beating the government out of the duty, 

and I believe all smokers are free traders after one trip 

to Havana, and to make a returned tourist vote against the tariff 

it will be only necessary to puff the fragrant blue smoke in his nostrils. 

All smokers in Cuba do not smoke cigars, and the pipe is seldom ever seen ; very 
many indulge in 

CIGARETTES. 

But they are not the rank, dudish thing of America. The Cuban cigarette is made 
of the same fragrant tobacco that has made the island famous the world over. 
Cigarettes are made by hand and by machinery, with paper wrappers and tobacco. 
One factory has a single machine that turns out a hundred thousand cigarettes every 
day — "La Honradez," of Havana — and the output is nearly half a million every day, 
I can't describe the wonderful machine, the invention of a Virginian. The tobacco 
is thrown in a hopper, passes out through a tube on to a ribbon of paper, a mile or 
two long, bike the paper of a telegraph ticker ; the paper with the coil of tobacco rest- 
ing on it, passes into another tube and is curled up and pasted around the tobacco, 
is cut off at proper lengths and drops into a basket "just as easy," It all seemed simple 
enough, as I saw two small boys stand by, shovel in the tobacco, turn on the bands 
and make the wheels go round. 

In riding about the city, 

THE CHURCHES 

must not be forgotten. The Cathedral is the principal one but not the oldest. San 
Augustin was formerly a monastery, and was built in 1608, and the Nunnery of 
Santa Clara in 1644, while the Cathedral was not commenced till 1656 and completed 
in 1724. One of the numerous tombs of Columbus is in the Cathedral ; here the 
ashes of the great discoverer lie beneath a bust of himself, the tablet bearicg an 
inscription in Spanish, which, being translated, means 

O ! Remains and image of the great Columbus, 
A Thousand Ages endure preserved in this Urn, 
And in the remembrance of our nation. 

The fashionable church of Havana is "La Merced," built in 1746, is attended by 



ABOUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 




the elite of the city, 
and is a place of spe- 
cial interest to tour- 
ists ; the decorations 
are superb and there 
are some fine paint- 
ings. 

High Mass may be 
heard at the Cathed- 
ral and any of the 
churches on Sundays 
and feast days at from 
8 to 9 a.m., but they 
are always open and 
visitors cordially wel- 
come. 

The others are San- 
ta Catalina on O'Reilly 
street, where repose 
the bodies of the mar- 
tyrs Celestino and Lu- 
cida, brought from 
Home as relics. 

The Nunnery of 
Santa Clara and the 
Monastery of Belen are 
places of interest. 

There are no pews 
or seats in Cuban 
churches. The people 
kneel on the floors 
while the prayers are 
said, there being no 
long, tedious sermons 
to listen to. Some wor- 
shippers bring a small 
cushion to kneel on or 
a small camp-stool. 

It is permitted to 
visit the different forts 
and fortifications — the 
principal one is 

MORRO CASTLE, 

and the next Cabana. 
"Visitors are admitted 
only by permit from 
the military authori- 
ties, which is easily 
obtained through the 
hotel agents, or the 
American Consul can 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. i9 

put you in the way to get the necessary papers. Drive to the Muelle de Caballeria and 
take a boat (at a cost of 25 cents each) to the east side of the bay, less than a mile, 
present your papers to the very civil military gentleman in charge, who will court- 
eously send a soldier with you, and you will be glad you came. The bay you have 
just crossed is smooth and calm as a mill-pond, but just at the base of the castle's 
north walls the sea is as wild as the mid-Atlantic. The tower of Morro Castle is a 
light-house, showing a flash-light of exceeding brilliancy fifteen leagues to seaward. 
The view from the ramparts is a magnificent one, — to the west the city of Havana 
lies spread out, to the southeast the palm-covered hills extend away to the moun- 
tains, to the north the boundless ocean lies, the waves washing in and out, way out 
to where they meet the skies. Morro Castle is connected with the other forts on 
the same hill by a tunnel under ground. 

All the forts and castles may be visited and there is no word of particular advice 
to give except to bear the necessary papers, and while in the forts avoid making 
notes, as the act might be misconstrued. 

There is one thing that must not be forgotten ; a visit to the 

MARKETS. 

They are all attractive ; the best time to go is early morning. The Tacon is the 
leading market, and there is none finer anywhere, the Colon has been recently com- 
pleted, and the Cristina is the oldest. Step into a cab and drive to either, dismiss 
the cab, for an hour or so may be most pleasantly spent ; there is everything for sale 
in the Havana markets, fish, flesh and fowl, dry goods, hats, boots and shoes ; 
chickens are cut up and sold in pieces ; if a whole one is not wanted, you can buy a 
drumstick or a wing — anything from a piano to a banana ; there are fresh vegetables 
in December as we see them in New York in July, and every variety of tropical fruit 
at surprisingly low prices, and there are some fruits that many Americans never 
heard of. There is a special market for fish, which should by all means be visited ; 
the fish are kept in coops, so to call them, sunk in the bay, and it is a good market 
regulation that no dealer is allowed to sell a dead fish, he (the fish) must be "alive 
and kicking " when the sale is made ; ice is too high for use in the fish market. By 
all means, include the markets in your tour of the city, so you can tell at home of 
seeing green peas, beans, green corn and lettuce in the open market in January; that 
you saw wagon loads of pine-apples offered at five cents apiece, and oranges, with 
the leaves yet green on the stems, for a cent. The markets are good places to get 
cheap souvenirs to take home with you. 

In driving about the city, one will not be impressed with the exterior of the 

CUBAN RESIDENCES. 

There are several palaces in Havana, belonging to Spanish noblemen, which, if 
you are fortunate enough to obtain the entree, will prove a most interesting feature 
of your visit. The average Cuban residence does not make much display on its ex- 
terior, and many are not particular as to who their neighbors are, or where the lo- 
cation. The line is drawn between their homes and the world by the street wall, and 
whatever may be outside that wall, has nothing to do with the inside ; outside may 
be a dirty, squalid street ; a peep through an archway will show a court, white and 
clean, with marble floors and stairs, inlaying fountains, growing plants and flowers. 
Cane and willow furniture is used exclusively ; there are no carpets, only rags laid 
on the marble tiles ; the chairs in the parlor are arranged in a hollow square ; 
there is no getting off in a corner, or ieie-a-tetes in quiet nooks. The entrance is 
through a wide, high archway, which closes both by iron gratings and heavy doors. 
An attendant sits in this archway at all times, combining the services of guard and 



20 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



porter. The bright interior, amounting many times to even luxuriousness, sets 
one to wondering as to the inmates and how they appear at home. This is hard to 
know, but one day I did — I called by mistake at the wrong door — the old colored 

servant could not be made to 
understand, and went back and 
forth to some one inside, and 
finally that some one had to come 
and direct me where to go ; there 
came from the innermost reces- 
ses of that court to the grating 
door, a woman in the white, airy 
costume of the land, a perfect 
vision of beauty, tall, and shaped 
like a Venus, with a fortune of 
raven black hair, eyes that spar- 
kled when she spoke, with a 
voice of exquisite loveliness, if I 
could I would have insisted that 
I was then at the house I was 
hunting for, but I had to go, and 
after that in my dreams I was e 
Spanish cavalier and serenaded 
beneath her casement — but I only 
do this in dreams. The lady's 
direction was correct, and I found 
my man, but had time to glance 
quickly at a Cuban residence. 

The family carriage and coupe 
are kept in the archway that leads 
from the street, but the horses 
in the rear of the court. In the 
center of the court was a playing 
fountain with rich flowers bloom- 
ing under its sprinkling waters ; 
all around this court were wide 
galleries whence came the song of birds, and onto these galleries opened the family 
rooms — marble floors everywhere — the grand saloon parlor walls were hung with 
rich paintings, on the marble tiles were oriental rugs, in the center a large one, 
about which the light fancy -wood chairs were placed in a hollow square. There 
was every evidence of luxurious ease within, but outside, the low walls might be taken 
for such as inclose a warehouse or cotton yard. But when one comes to the 

SUBURBS OF HAVANA, 

then does the ideal tropic home come to view in all its luxurious loveliness. The 
Captain-General has a summer residence in the suburbs where he resides from May 
to December, and the drive there is especially fine. While you are inspecting these 
villas drive to Vedado, the Cerro and Tulipan, the fashionable residence districts, 
and after these, extend the ride to the beautiful 

CITY OF THE DEAD. 

The Cemetery is usually the last place you drive to, but I will bring it in here as 
one of pleasure, seeing there is to be no procession. The entrance to the Cemetery 




THE PATIO OF A CUBAN RESIDENCE. 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 21 



and the Chapel within the gates, are the most exquisite pieces of architecture of the 
kind to be found anywhere, and the whole cemetery is filled with tombs, monu- 
ments and statues that would adorn a Greenwood or a Spring Grove. The grounds 
are located on the hills west of the City, and besides the local beauty of the place 
command a fine view of the island and the sea. 

When one has seen Havana it is not all of Cuba by any means. The tourist, in 
justice to his own pleasure must do 

CUBA BY RAIL. 

First the suburban railways, a "dummy" train leaves from the sea front near 
La Punta and runs along the shore to the suburbs and extends to the cemetery. 

The Marianao Railway extends west from Havana fifteen miles to Marianao 
[Marry-dh-now) , a pretty little city of over 5, 000 people, where there is a fine beach and 
excellent bathing, and near which is the famous Toledo sugar plantations, that 
may be visited by securing a permit from the manager in Havana. 

The suburbs of Tulipan, Cerro, Ceiba, Buena Vista and Quemados, are all reached 
by the Marianao Railway. 

La Prueba Railway and a branch of the Bahia Railway lead to the city of 
Guanabacoa six miles east of Havana, cross by ferry to Regla, thence trains run half 
hourly. Guanabacoa is one of the oldest towns in Cuba and has a population of 
42,000. One of the places of interest to visit is the garden "Las Delicias," a private 
garden, planted for the amusement and pleasure of its owner— strangers are always 
welcome. Cut flowers and plants may be bought, and there are all kinds known 
to the tropics. On the commutation trains between Havana and Guanabacoa you 
may buy a brass check instead of a ticket, drop it in a box, pass through a turnstile 
and get on board. There are no conductors. 

The station of the BAH|A RA1LWAY) 

in Havana is at the Muelle de Luz, from whence passengers cross in ferry boats not 
unlike those in New York to Regla, where there is a nice station from which trains 
leave for eastern points in Cuba, and the ride is a most attractive one — the full name 
of the road is ' ' Ferro-carril de la Bahia de la Habana, " meaning literally the ' ' Rail- 
way of the Bay of Havana," and my notes say good track, good cars and fast time, 
and if I remember right a seat on the left hand side is the best; — but on both sides 
there is much to see, the road runs through a rich valley with rolling hills covered 
with palms and cocoa trees on each side, rising to high mountains that lift up in 
fantastic shapes like old Polonius' clouds in Hamlet, like a camel, or backed like 
a weasel, or like a whale — or like the old man of the mountains in Catskills, all blue 
in the distance sometimes and sometimes near at hand. Near the road are the low 
thatched houses of the country people, built of palm logs, thatched with palm leaves 
and weather-boarded with palm bark, with here and there the white house of the 
planter's home or that of his manager. 

The train makes fast time and comes to the stations in rapid succession, stopping 
at each one, and before it starts a Chinaman stands on the platform and rings a din- 
ner-bell which is the Cuban for "all aboard. " This same Chinaman acts as train-boy 
and passes through the cars offering guava jelly and native cheese spread on plantain 
leaves, but no morning papers or yellow-back novels. When the whistle sounds for 

MATANZAS, 

a seat on the left will show the best view of the city, and, on the high hill beyond, 
the church of Montserat which overlooks the valley of the Yumuri, which with the 
caves of Bella Mar form the chief attractions. 



22 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



The railway station at Matanzas is a fine building, and a much nicer station than 
is usually found in towns of the same size in America ; by-the-way, you will read the 
signs in Cuba and may not know what they mean, " Boletines" is over the ticket 
office, "Equipages'" over the baggage-room, " Senoras" is over the door to the 
ladies' room and Senores over that for gentlemen. Tickets are shown on entering 
the station at Havana, punched by the conductor and taken up by the gateman at 
Matanzas. 

Matanzas is eighty-five miles from Havana, located on the bay at the junction of 
the San Juan and Yumuri rivers, a city of the pure Cuban type, with narrow streets 
opening into plazas, low buildings, luxuriant trees and gardens and good hotels 
withal. One goes to Matanzas to see the caves and the 

VALLEY OF THE YUMURI. 

The journey may be made from Havana and return to that city in a day, allowing 
time to visit the valley and the caves. A longer stay is desirable, but the average 




VALLEY OF THE YtTMURI, FROM MONT9ERAT CHURCH. 

American is in a hurry and this story is written to suit him. Consult the schedules 
of the railways without relying on this, for schedules change sometimes, even in 
Cuba. 

Interpreters of the various hotels meet the trains on arrival at Matanzas, and will 
secure the volantas while you are at breakfast or securing rooms. The volanta is 
the easiest riding vehicle in the world ; it rests on two wheels, the body of the 
volanta suspended on leather throughbraces, like a stage-coach, long shafts of elastic 
wood connects with the horse ; another horse, ridden by the driver, is attached out- 
side the shafts ; with this rig a ride over the hills of Cuba is the event of a lifetime. 
The horses start off at a full trot, and keep it up all the way, up hill and down. 
Leaving the hotel the route is through the city, past the Plaza, the Palace, and the 
Casino, then through long narrow streets of low houses to the hills outside the city, 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



$3 



•where a long, white road leads to the highest, on the top of which is the Church o% 
Montserat overlooking the beautiful val- 
ley, than which there is no more lovelier in 
all my "world of travels ; it is worth all the 
journey to Cuba to go and look at it. One 
does not drive through the valley, but to 
the hills that hedge it in, and enjoys the 
enchantment that distance lends. 

The church stands on the top of the 
hill, and but for the stone walls that sur 
round it one might fall and roll down the 
steep sides hundreds of feet ; far below 
the little Yumuri river runs, no bigger 
than a brook, the white road winds about 
through the palms and up the hills on the 
other side ; looking from the east wall the 
city of Matanzas is in the near distance, 
the bay beyond, and further on the hills 
where the caves are. 

The Church of Montserat enjoys the 
fame of many miracles, and the grateful 
pilgrims who have sojourned here and 
been cured are numbered in legions ; you 
may purchase a charm or relic at Mont- 
serat that may have a talismanic effect on 
your future fortunes. The church is a not 
imposing structure, of a greenish hue, 
built of stone, surmounted by a cross ; in 
front, under the trees, are four statues 
with the inscriptions — Ledida, Taragona, 
Barcelona, and Gerona ; inside are glass 
cases containing relics and offerings made 
by pilgrims ; on the walls are curious pic- 
tures, one depicts the wreck of a passenger 
train, the cars rolling down an embank- 
ment, reminding the traveler of the uncer- 
tainties of life even on the best regulated 
railways. 

This is one of the places it is hard to 
get away from, but if we go back to 
Havana this afternoon, we must hurry on 
to the 

CAVES OF BELLA MAR. 

The route is back through the city 
again, but by different streets ; passing 
over a bridge across the St. John, the road 
comes to the sea shore, skirting the bay 
and passing some beautiful suburban resi- 
dences and the local summer resorts — then 
climbs the hills about three miles to where 
the caves are. I do not know whether Mazzantini. 




u 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



—i "=- — 

tfye boundaries of the infernal regions come nearer the earth's surface at any one 

place, but if they do, it must be near Bella 
Mar, and the caves may be a disused side- 
entrance — the weather in the caves is of that 
summer nature to make one ask questions. 
Ladies, remove your wraps, leave them at the 
entrance. Gentlemen, the ladies will excuse 
you, take off your coats, and unless 
your collar is celluloid, or you have an 
extra one, divest yourself of that too — 
because its warm enough for you down- 
stairs — but withal a wonderful under- 
ground journey. 

Guides with torches precede you 
down a flight of stairs — thence on for a 
mile or so it is easy walking, through 
lofty chambers, dazzling in their deco- 
rations, ceilings hung with glittering 
stalactites varying in size from my lady's 
finger to tons in weight, and 
like diamonds reflecting from 
their crystals a thousand 
hues — these are in fantastic 
shapes, some from their re- 
semblances have acquired names — there is 
a "Mantle of Columbus;" a "Guardian 
Spirit;" and a piano composed of a series 
of small stalactites of different lengths, 
which on being struck, give forth a melo- 
dious chord. There is a "Monkey Sa- 
lon," suggesting a convention of frozen 
monkeys, evidently not frozen m the cave 
though. There is a pool of water called, 
the "BaGo de la Inglesa," from the fact 
that an English lady tourist once bathed 
in its waters. The caves have never been 
fully explored ; there are other chambers 
• — at a point on the route is an opening, 
where a stone being thrown can be heard 
bounding from side to side till the sound 
is lost in the distance ; and the guides say 
they never have gone as far as it is possible 
through the different openings — it is a mam- 
moth cave that will compare with Kentucky's 
Mammoth or Virginia's Luray. 

Now those who wish may return to Havana, 
and those who wish proceed to 

CARDENAS, 

the very youngest city in Cuba, and its 

growth is something wonderful, there are now 

The city is located on a fine bay and is backed by a most 




"GUEEEITA. 



nearly 25,000 people. 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 25 

fertile country, and contains a sugar refinery and other manufacturing interests. 
The train which leaves Regla (opposite Havana) in the morning, arrives at Cardenas 
about noon, a fast train over a good road and passing through a country totally un- 
like any other I ever saw ; a country of rolling hills with fertile sugar valleys in 
between, high mountains, not in long continuous ranges, but sharp abrupt peaks 
whose sides appear almost perpendicular. Cardenas is the first city in Cuba to erect a 
statue to Columbus. This, perhaps, because the ashes gave out. So many cities could 
not have ashes and so Cardenas must have a statue. The journey by rail may be 
continued on through middle Cuba to Santo Domingo, Sagua, Santa Clara and to 
Cienfuegos, either of which cities may be reached by a twelve hours' daylight ride, 
that will show the American tourist more newness than he can get in any twelve 
in his own country. Starting from Havana on morning trains of either the Bahia 
or Havana Railroads, arrival can be made at either of the places before nightfall. 

The railway system of Cuba extends over the central portion of the island, trav- 
ersing the fertile interior, touching the northern coast at Havana, Matanzas, Car- 
denas and Concha, and the southern shore at Batabano and Cienfuegos. 

La Linea de la Gompania de Caminos de Hierro de la Habana is a long name, 
meaning 

THE HAVANA RAILWAY. 

The road starts from Villa Nueva station, Havana, runs eastward to Matanzas and 
Union, connecting there with other lines for interior and coast cities. It is a fine 
railway, and well equipped. Tourists, who have not time for further rail journeys, 
should go over one line to Matanzas and return by the other. This company has a 
line west from Havana to Guanajay and southward to 

BATABANO AND THE SOUTH COAST, 

crossing the island at one of the narrowest parts, being only thirty-one miles. The 
run from Havana is made in one hour and twenty minutes ; pretty good time, consid- 
ering the ten stops and the slow entrance to Havana, where it is required that a man 
on horseback must ride between the rails in front of the engine from the limits to 
Villa Nueva, the city station. Batabano is the port where the steamships sail for 
Santiago de Cuba, The Isle of Pines, Vuelta-Abajo and other ports on the south 
coast on regular days, which change sometimes and the sailing dates will not be 
written down. 

The Isle of Pines is about seventy -five miles from Batabano, and requires about 
eight hours' sail. Trains leave Havana in the morning, arriving at Batabano an hour 
and a half later, arriving per steamer at the Isle of Pines in the afternoon. The island 
is noted principally for its fine woods — mahogany, red-wood, ebony, rosewood and 
other valuable timbers ; pines, of course, hence its name. It is truly the most tropi- 
cal place within easy American reach ; all tropical birds, animals and reptiles abound 
in the forests. There are mineral springs on the island which enjoy a local reputa- 
tion for their curative qualities. From the Isle of Pines also comes a valuable marble 
in various colors. Altogether, a most interesting tour to make. 

SANTIAGO DE CUBA 

is the chief city of eastern Cuba, and is the capital of the State of Santiago de Cuba, 
and, of course, the residence of the civil governor and the church functionaries, 
located on the south shore on one of the finest bays, in the midst of a fine coffee and 
sugar region, for which it is the shipping point. Near Santiago are also the cele- 
brated iron ore beds and copper mines, most favorably known for their excellent 
qualities ; ores which are shipped to the Uuited States and other parts of the world. 



26 



AROUND TRJE! CORNER TO CUBA. 



The metal deposits are pronounced very rich and are attracting the attention of our 
capitalists. The mines are worked now by native companies, but not to their fullest 
capacity nor to the best advantage. 

As yet, Santiago de Cuba cannot be reached by rail from Havana ; the tourist 
for that point must sail from Batabano, Oienfuegos or from Havana and around the 
island. 

The line running west from Havana is called the 

FERRO-CARRIL DEL OESTE. 
Trains leave Cristina station, Havana, in the morning, and returning in the 




SANTIAGO DE CUBA. 

evening, give the hurrying American time to make the tour in a day, and travel 
through the famous 

TOBACCO REGIONS. 

It is a curious fact that all the finest tobacco in the world should be grown in so 
small a country as Cuba, but still more curious that it should be confined to so 
small a portion of that country— and it is well worth while to make the little trip 
necessary, to see where grows the weed the fragrance of whose blue smoke is the 
delight and talk and solace of two hemispheres. * 

Morning trains from Havana connect at Paso Real with stages and volants for 
the mineral springs and baths of San Diego de los Banos, noted for wonderful cures 
of rheumatism, paralysis and diseases of the blood. The resort is called the Cuban 
Saratoga, and is largely patronized by wealthy natives both for health and pleasure ; 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 27 



there are ample hotel accommodations. The stage or volanta ride is only nine miles 
from Paso Real on the main line of the West Railroad. 

The scenery along the line is lovely in the extreme and the added attractions of 
the tobacco regions gives another subject to talk on at home — you can tell them you 
saw where the cigars grow. 

It will be of interest to note these 

POINTERS ON CUBAN RAILWAY TRAVEL. 

The different railways publish folders or time cards in Spanish, but it is easy to 
understand them — the names of stations of course are the same in English so are the 
time figures, then it is only necessary to know that manana means morning and tarde, 
afternoon ; tarifa is the tariff and precios the price of tickets, both terms being used; — 
Tiora is the hour and minutos the minutes ; trenes means the trains and linea the line ; 
now take the folder and read it, the lesson is easy. 

There are first, second and third class cars with a different rate of fare for each 
car, for instance, the .arst class fare from Havana to Matanzas is 34.25; 2d, $3.00 and 
3d, $1.75. 

Tickets must be purchased before entering the cars, conductors punch the tickets 
but do not take them up, the agent at destination does that. 

On all the main lines there are good accommodations, the track is good, and 
trains make fast time. The following are some rules in force : 

The sale of tickets will be closed five minutes before departure of trains. 

Tickets only good for date stamped on. 

Babies free. 

Children to 7 years old will pay half -fare, employees to decide the age. A child 
without a ticket will pay full-fare. 

Passengers must show their tickets as many times as so exacted by the conductor. 

Passengers without tickets will pay one-third additional for first tract, and the 
total afterwards, from point of departure. 

If trains do not arrive on time passengers can desist from their trip, price of 
tickets being refunded. 

Employees of the train can eject passengers without tickets, unwilling to pay 
their fare, or behaving improperly, and in case of resistance to be delivered to the 
authorities. 

Passengers losing a ticket must pay its price till justification of loss. 

Passengers are only allowed, free, a hat-box, valise or satchel 24 inches long, by 
12 wide and 9 high. All other baggage to go in the baggage-car paying freight. 

Traveling on the platforms strictly prohibited. 

No animals allowed on the first-class car, except fighting-cocks in their baskets. 

In other cars, muzzled dogs and six chickens are tolerated, paying freight. 

Firearms, to go in the baggage-room. 

No colored persons allowed in the first-class cars. 

No packages allowed containing fish or ice in such a state as to annoy passengers. 

The delivery of baggage will be made upon presentation of the check by order of 
numbers. 

$50 will be paid for a trunk lost, $20 for a valise or satchel, and hat-boxes $4. 

The fractions of money will be charged as wholes by the Company. 

THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 

of the Cubans are in many cases peculiar, but always pleasing. They have main 
tained a good name for the courtesies and kindness to strangers. If you admire 



/ 



28 AROUND THE CORKER TO CUBA. 

anything that belongs to a Cuban lie says it is at your service ; if you call at bis 
house, he says in his words of welcome, " this house is yours; " but it would hardly 
be proper to ask him to make out the deeds till you call again. 

Cuban ladies possess a beauty above the average pretty woman, and are modest 
withal. They do not go out alone or receive gentlemen unless in the presence of a 
duenna or older member of the family — 'tis well — for it always seemed to me that 
those great black eyes and long lashes, drooping on pretty cheeks with such lips as 
theirs, could do a world of mischief, and if left alone and untrammeled break up 
whole families. Their costumes are most bewitching, all light and airy. They wear 
no hats or bonnets, but instead, the lace mantilla, hanging in graceful folds from 
their inky hair — a black mantilla for the street and a white one for the theatre — 
bless 'em for that one fact alone — no hats at the theatre. The milliner's is an undis- 
covered art in Cuba, and she would starve to death if she depended on the patronage 
of the ladies there. 

I have often wondered how a Cuban lover ever got a chance to say his pretty talks 
and tell his sweetheart what was his opinion of her ; but when I went to a ball and 
saw the " Danza," I ceased to wonder. In the maneuvers of that slow and peculiar 
dance he has the best chance in the world — a man can't dance the Danza with but 
one woman at a time, and the Danza is danced by the hour. I think its duration is 
only measured by the endurance of the musicians. The Danza is not a polka, nor a 
schottische ; more of a waltz, with the time and steps divided by about eight ; it is 
hardly even a dance, but a slow walk around, and though not fatiguing, with fre- 
qiaent stoppages — I think not to rest, but to talk. The positions of the dancers are 
the same as in a waltz, and give ample opportunity for extended embraces to slow 
music, and here it is that I have figured it out that the Cuban lover has his oppor- 
tunity. 

The fetes and balls are largely attended and the people seem to devote their 
energies to complete enjoyment, and they last till the sunshine dims the gaslight. 
The people go to church early in the morning but the balance of the day is devoted 
to pleasure. 

The ladies go shopping on wheels, and do not, as a general thing, get out of the 
carriage at the stores, the goods being brought out for their inspection, and if satis- 
factory, the goods are taken home and, I suppose, the bill sent to padre. 

Business men take coffee at home in the morning, breakfast down-town about our 
lunch time, and dine at home after business hours ; it sounds queer to go into an 
office at noon and be told the party inquired for has gone to breakfast. 

On account of the climate, I suppose, nobody seems in a hurry in Cuba, and 
many people look tired ; I saw a cart backed up to a front door, it was loaded with 
brick, a negro piled up four bricks in the end of the cart and waited for a Chinaman 
to carry them in, and thus after a while unloaded his cart. I suppose some man in 
the back yard (like Paddy's man at the top of the scaffold, where he carried bricks) 
did all the work. The average costume of the laborer is a knit shirt and a pair of 
overalls, whether it's December or May. 

Everything goes in and out the front door of a Havana house. Marketing goes 
in and garbage goes out. Horses and carriages use the same entrance the guests do. 

Horses carry instead of draw their burdens. If you see green objects coming 
down the street, don't imagine that "Burnham wood has come to Dunsinane." 
There are little horses under those piles of green fodder. 

I saw tandem teams of eight horses and donkeys to one two-wheeled cart. Mules 
and horses wear heavy woolen head-dresses of tassels as protection against 
the sun, and oxen wear their yokes on the back of their beads just aft the horn, and 
some of them do business as switch engines in the depot yards. 



ABOUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 29 



People get "broke " in Cuba just as they do here at home, perhaps more so, as 
the Government undertakes to do the pawnbroker's business, so if you have anything 
to put up the Queen of Spain will act as your uncle, or more properly, your aunt. 
Money would seem hard to get in Cuba, and also that many people desire to get it, 
as it is common to see armed soldiers in the entry and corridors of the bank — but 
perhaps they are only there to look after the cashiers— that would be a good idea in 
some American banks, and likely reduce the tide of travel to Canada. 

To tell all of the manners and customs of these good people would make a very 
large book of interesting reading, and these are only notes taken at random during 
a flying visit to the Island in the season of '87-8, and are written for the information 
of those who may contemplate the most delightful voyage, and with the wish that 
their experiences may be as prolific of pleasant memories as was my visit to the 
beautiful Queen of the Antilles. 

SANITARY. 

To assure the timid and satisfy any inquiry on the subject, it is proper to note 
here the sanitary regulations prescribed by the Board of Health, and scrupulously 
observed on board the steamers of the Plant Line. An investigation of the channel 
of introduction of yellow fever into Florida was ordered and a committee of the 
Board of Health sent to Tampa, Key West and Havana. The report was in every 
way favorable to the line, and no evidence adduced tending to any sort of founda- 
tion for anything said against it by uninformed rumor. 

The following are extracts from the Official Report : 

"The vessels of this line are the ' Mascotte ' and ' Olivette, ' both new iron vessels, 
constructed on the most approved principles and adapted especially for the Gulf 
trade. While these ships are marvels of beauty and elegance, they are also marvels 
in the way of ventilation and improved sanitary arrangements. In fine, they were 
built to meet the requirements of West Indian transportation. They ply, as you 
know, between Havana and Tampa, touching at Key West. 

That you may understand the precautionary measures adopted by this line for 
the prevention of the introduction of yellow fever, we will state in substance the 
regulations which are in force from May 10 to November 1, which regulations are 
subject to such additional regulations from time to time as may be deemed advisable 
or necessary : 

1st. The officers and crews of both vessels of this line shall be acclimated to the 
island of Cuba, thus rendering them practically exempt from yellow fever. 

2d. Every steamship of the line shall enter the harbor of Havana only after sun- 
rise, and shall leave the port before sunset of the same day. While in Havana each 
vessel shall be anchored or moored in the eastern portion of the bay, which is to the 
windward of the city, the prevailing winds being from the northeast. 

3d. The vessels shall hold no communication with the shore at Havana except 
upon the written permission of Dr. D. M. Burgess. All officers of the vessel and 
members of the crew are f orbidden to go on shore or on board any other vessel 
except upon the written permission of Dr. Burgess. Nor shall any person from the 
shore visit any vessel of the line, except upon such permission. This regulation 
shall likewise apply to Key West should the necessity arise. 

4th. The agents of this line at Havana will require from every person desiring to 
take passage, as a prerequisite to obtaining such passage, a certificate from Dr. 
Burgess stating that such person has given satisfactory evidence of having had yel- 
low fever or being acclimated to the island of Cuba or neighboring islands, also that 
such person comes from a healthy locality. 

5th. Should any case of fever develop on any vessel of the line after leaving 



30 AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 

Havana, it shall be the duty of the captain to promptly report the same to the health 
officer of the port nest reached, i. e., Key "West or Tampa. Such case shall be con- 
sidered yellow fever until disproved. All contaminated bedding and clothes shall be 
considered infectious and subject to such orders as the health officer may direct. 

6th. After leaving port, the hatches shall be opened as soon as practicable, and a 
wind-sail set that the ship's interior may be thoroughly ventilated. The U. S. mails 
and all baggage to be fumigated in air-tight compartments as directed by Drs. 
Burgess, Porter and Wall. 

7th. The vessels shall be thoroughly cleansed twice a week at Tampa. All bilge 
water shall be removed by pumping and sponging. The bilge space after being 
thoroughly cleansed, shall be treated alternately with bi-chloride of mercury and 
chloride of lime. Particular attention shall be given water-closets and waste-pipes 
of all kinds that no offensive odors shall exist. 

8th. Drs. Burgess and Wall will make a personal inspection of every portion of 
each vessel upon its arrival at Havana or Tampa. Likewise an inspection of passen- 
gers, officers and crew. 

9th. The bill of health of each vessel on each trip, shall state clearly and dis- 
tinctly whether or not the above requirements have been complied with. 

Having heard these regulations, two questions are naturally suggested. 1st. Are 
these rules sufficiently effective and can they be carried out ? 2d. Will they be 
carried out ? After a careful investigation we are assured of the practical working of 
the above regulations. 

In consideration of these facts we believe that commerce with the West Indies 
is not only possible, but may be, with safety, maintained during the summer, with- 
out the restrictions of the old system of quarantine." 

ABOUND THE COKNEK. 

That part of this country known as Florida has been, not inaptly, called "the 
corner of the continent," and if it is the corner, the title chosen for a sketch of a trip 
to Cuba may be as aptly chosen as around that corner. 

That Columbus discovered America, as taught for generations, with an occasional 
dissenter placing the point of discovery further north and changing the name of the 
discoverer, is a memory of schooldays, and this history need not extend thereto. 
Suffice it to say that Columbus went home and told a tale of the land which started 
an excursion business that has lived, with some interruptions, through nearly four 
centuries. Ponce de Leon was the first excursionist of note. He came, not in a special 
car, as do noted tourists of to-day, but in his own ship, made a longer voyage with 
the same ulterior object — the finding the fountain of health. The ancient mariner 
and original excursionist may have believed too implicitly in the stories he had heard, 
and expected to find a too material spring, whose waters were a preventive of 
wrinkles, possessed a smoothing quality and a power to effect a bloom of perpetual 
youth ; but whatever he had heard was not far away from the reports of to-day. Only, 
people of this age are not given to reading too literally, but with due credence are 
attracted thither to the same land which Ponce de Leon had heard was the panacea 
for his growing old, and follow where he led the way, more than three hundred years 
ago. De Soto was another original tourist. His landing was at Tampa, and the 
hunt, not for the health-renewing waters, but gold and plunder, was pursued north- 
ward. Now the point of debarkation is at the northern border, and the pursuit to the 
southward through the Flowery State, embarking at De Soto's landing for the India 
Isles and a still warmer clime. 

Physically, Cuba belongs to our domain — belongs to the domain of the tourist 
— at least since it has been shown that it only requires a ferry-boat to cross over. 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 31 

Politically, the Island is His Majesty's, of Spain ; but the little king, through his 
gracious mother, the Queen Regent, welcomes the great American traveler to the 
hills and valleys of this island of perpetual summer. To all intents and purposes, 
the opening of a line from her chief port on the Gulf coast to Havana, is but increas- 
ing Florida's territory of pleasure travel, and those who have been disposed to carp 
at what seemed to them opposition attractions, have not regarded the fact that the 
tour ' ' around the corner " may bring back some who thought they had done the 
State long ago, and some new ones who, but for the addition of the Cuban feature, 
may not have traveled thitherward at all. 

It was the intention to say nothing in this about the unanimous direction of 
all roads toward Eome, but the location of Jacksonville, and the geographical direc- 
tion of all railways to the southeast corner of the continent, and centering as they do 
at Jacksonville, makes the temptation to use the quotation hardly to be resisted. 

Coming down the coast from New York by all lines via Charleston and Savannah, 
Augusta and Aiken ; from the north via Cincinnati and Louisville ; from the north- 
west via Chicago and St. Louis ; from the southwest via New Orleans and Mobile, 
there are long lines of Pullman cars that have their terminus at Jacksonville, whose 
passengers need not leave their places from departure to destination, and on certain 
trains till they step on board ship to sail for Cuba ; hence the journey has naught of 
the old-time material for unpleasant memories. 

The monotony of the longer sea voyage of other days may be broken on this 
route by pleasant 

STOPPING PLACES BY THE WAY. 

Charleston — with its historic memories of the war, its marks of earthquake mis- 
fortunes. The beautiful gardens, and the harbor with its forts and batteries are all 
attractive, in themselves sufficient for the request of a stop-over ticket. The old 
palace-looking Charleston Hotel, with its heavy pillared colonnade, is a reminiscence 
of the hotel architecture of old days ; but the living there is of modern excellence, 
and also at the Pavilion and Waverly. 

Asheville — noted for its climatic advantage and scenic beauty and its Battery 
Park and Swannanoa hotels. Aiken — for its hotel of comfort at Highland Park, the 
pineries and healthful sunshine. Augusta — for its beautiful streets and suburbs. 
Savannah — for its parks and moss-hung trees — where the tourist from the East may 
break his journey, find much to interest, and good living withal. 

If the journey is from central North, at Chattanooga is grand old Lookout, 
with its battle-field "above the clouds," and a hundred others on the routes to 
Atlanta, the " gate city of the South " — where always the traveler is welcome and 
made to feel the hospitality of a genial people. Macon is on the borders of the pine 
lands, set upon the hills in the centre of the Empire State of the South. Thomas- 
ville, noted far and wide, the favorite of the health searcher and those on pleasure 
bent, a veritable '-'Yankee Paradise," where the balmy breezes come in zephyrs, 
aroma-laden, from the purring pines bearing health and new life on every breath. 
Besides the wonderful health-giving climate of Thomasville, the very excellent hotels 
of that resort are attractions within themselves. The Mitchell House is one of the 
resort hotels of the country, not excelled even at the great summer watering-places. 
The Piney "Woods Hotel, located in a grove of pines that localizes the sobriquet of 
" Yankee Paradise." There are a score or more of other hotels, not equal in size to 
these, but there is good living. Tallahassee, the city of roses, which came by its 
name by Divine right in the crowning of its chocolate hills luxuriantly with the 
queen of all the flowers. There is mention of Tally-ho line from Metcalf , a station on 
the Thomasville and Monticello Railway, This ride through pines, over the smooth 



32 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 




roads of white sand, is one full of in- 
terest and pleasurable novelty. The 
hotels of Tallahassee are up to the 
standard. 

All these towns and cities are on 
the line, and more there are down the 
peninsula, where stops may be made 
on this new route to Cuba. 

Jacksonville, the metropolis of the 

&i \ V^y i ' r *->&C^^ a State, is the terminus of the through 

\ wJ> ^H^^^^taJ^^Si ^^£^l!swf$i& car ^ nes an< l the 8 Tea ^ distributing 

point for all Florida. Everybody 
stops at Jacksonville either going or 
returning, some a longer time, as the 
fine city has attractions in the fashion- 
able hotels, fine drives, and sails on 
the broad river ; excursions to the sea at 
Pablo or Mayport, by rail or sail, or by 
steamer up the river of abundant waters, 
the wide St. John's. And all the rest of it, 
that goes to make a delightful sojourn at 
a fashionable watering place. All that may 
be remembered of summer days at Saratoga or Bar Harbor can be found at Jackson- 
ville, from the excellence of the hotels to the frivolities of the life therein. There is 
at Jacksonville a hotel kept by a man whose only standard is that of superior excel- 
lence — a host who has the patronage of the best people and caters to it by keeping a 
hotel whose title, the proprietor says, must be "The Best." The Windsor is the 
hotel and Orvis the man. The St. James, the Everett, the Carleton, are all in the 
front rank of resort hotels, with many others above the average. 

I say sleeping-car "runs" end at Jacksonville. Eor the most part they do, but 
if the journey to Cuba is to be made without a stop, there is a Pullman which does 
not stop at Jacksonville, but extends its ' ' run " to Tampa and on to the pier at Port 
Tampa, alongside the "Mascotte" and "Olivette," the ships of the ferry. 

Leisurely travelers can find many places south of Jacksonville where to make 
pleasant breaks in their journeys. At St. Augustine one may have a foretaste of the 
old Spanish scenes to be visited at the end of the voyage, and a visit to the oldest 
city in this country is fraught with many pleasures. 

All the world has heard of the famous Ponce de Leon, a replica of some old 
Moorish castle, as it looks to be, with its turrets and towers, court-yards and gate- 
ways, a picture taken from the ancient history of lordly Spain. This, with the 
Alcazar, and Cordova, and the other hostelries of more modern build, the San Marco, 
Magnolia, Florida, are the names which insure good living while stealing some days 
from another century. 

St. Augustine does not seem to grasp the newness of advancing ages, and she is 
all the more attractive because she does not. As far back as extends the memory of 
the oldest inhabitant, the newspaper writer and guide-book scribe has written it "ye 
ancient citye " — till it has been questioned whether St. Augustine ever was new. As 
the town is old so everything in it is — it is the old fort, and it was the old Sergeanc, 
now gone to his rest, that showed its old dungeons, casements, parapets, towers, 
prison cells and subterranean passages, and told his old, old story of mysteries that 
rivaled the Inquisition, which may or may not have occurred, and which he was 
never certain of, as he (though old himself) " was not there and didn't see it," and 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



33 



of course could not speak positively on hearsay. When the old Sergeant told of the 
King of Spain's (alleged) looking wistfully westward over the seas, some three hun- 
dred years ago, and saying that he was looking to see the towers of the castle of San 
Marco, which must be mountain high (not mounting high ; the ancient Kings of 
Spain never perniciously played upon words), which had cost so much money and so 
many men and years to build, he, the old Sergeant, always told the anecdote with in- 
evitable interpolation of the hint that he was not present, and of course did not hear 
the king say anything about the old fort at all — somebody else had told him about it. 

All the balance of this great country owes a debt of gratitude to St. Augustine in 
that, that old city saved the country from an everlasting " whitewash " in securing 
to it the only " old ruins " in the whole country, and the native points with pardon- 
able pride to the crumbling walls of San Marco, of Fort Mantanzas, the City Gates 
and scores of low-walled houses in veritable proof of the city's claims. 

The sea wall is not new. It is old to many lovers, whose walks up and down 
have worn smooth the cap-stones. The pyramidal tombs of Major Dade and his 
massacred men are moss-covered with age, and of a build that is Egyptian in its style. 
In the old cemeteries the tumble-down tombs show more 16's and 17's than of 18's 
in naming the centuries of the dates of departure of the Dons and Donas who rest 
beneath them. 

The streets of St. Augustine are as old as the town is, and a great deal narrower, 
too narrow for practical purposes, but wide enough for St. Augustine, yet narrow 
enough to provide two shady sides all day long, even with the low, 
one-storied houses. What more could be desired of a street in 
a town as old as St. Augustine ? 

With all its oldness St. Augustine is to have in the near 
future the newest thing on wheels, a vestibuled train s< 
which will cross the St. John's at Palatka or Jacksonville < 

This old town is not on the beaten track to Cuba, £ 
trip there is a slight divergence, but the main line is not an 
hour out of the way. The line of railway down on the west side 
of the St. John's passes through Magnolia and Green Cove 
Springs, both noted health resorts, where the baths of curative 
waters are, and whose fame has gone abroad through- 
out the land. Palatka, rejoicing in the pretty title 
of the Gem City and its possession of such a hotel 
as the Putnam House, is a distributing point for the 
central peninsula and a most pleasant place 
withal, where 'tis good to stop for rest 
and pleasure, and during the stay, 
tour the mystic, crooked waters of the 
romantic Ocklawaha and gaze deep 
down in the depths of the silvery wa- 
ters of Silver Spring, or "branch 
off " to the beautiful lake region 
of the western part of the penin- 
sula, or to the lower eastern coast 
at Day tona, and come to the main 
line again, which follows the 
eastern shore of the St. Johns, 



and crosses that river at its 
juntion with Lake Monroe, 
and comes to Sanford. 




34 AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



If there is time for yet other tours in the Flowery State, Sanford is the stop- 
ping place for that of the Indian river, and no other is more attractive, leading as it 
does through the more tropical regions where palms and palmettos make the forests, 
and oranges and bananas the cultivated grounds and gardens. 

The straight way of the through route of the Pullman from New York is a little 
to the southwest from Sanford ; leaving that charming city by the lake the track is up 
grade, more than would be supposed in such an apparently level country ; at an 
elevation of 250 feet and only 35 miles from the sea, crosses the back-bone of the 
peninsula and rolls down on the western slope to the Gulf of Mexico. Passing 
en route, the garden of the land, a very park of intervening lakes, groves, gardens 
and pines, broken hers and there by bustling cities in miniature with extending 
suburbs that grow to villages and towns further down — where, at any one a stop 
may be made, but the sleeper hurries on to Tampa where the ship is waiting. 

TAM PA. 

It has been more than three hundred years since Panfilo de Narvaez sailed the 
first ship into the waters of Tampa Bay, and ever since he came, and De Soto after 
. him, the returning tourist has brought back wonderful tales of its beauties, and told 
fish stories that must sound improbable to any one who has never been a-fishing at 
Tampa. The editor of the New York Journal of Commerce says that for a day's fish- 
ing no one need go further than an hour's rowing from the wharf at Tampa. Even 
the amateur angler can come home before the day is out, simply tired out catching 
the fish. It is no weary tramp through the woods or tedious sail to where the fish 
are ; they are right at Tampa, at the wharf. So much for the sport. What else ? 

There is being erected at Tampa a hotel which, in its magnificent proportions and 
appointments, will rival any building of its kind in the country. 

Tampa's new hotel will be the first tourist hotel in the United States, and, so far 
as known, is the first in the world to be built entirely fire-proof — all the walls, parti- 
tions, floors and ceilings being of brick and concrete, and all the beams of rolled steel. 
) The hotel company, after many delays, succeeded in purchasing about thirty 
acres of land fronting the river opposite the city, and built a draw-bridge connecting 
the hotel grounds with the city of Tampa. 

The grounds overlook Tampa Bay, the city and Fort Brook. From the towers 
may be seen the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, twenty miles away. In the lawns and 
gardens are the trees of the South, great oaks, orange trees and the wild lemon, with 
their fragrant blossoms ; the magnolia and the roses will also lend their perfumes. 
On the grounds are springs of mineral waters — chalybeate and sulphur. 

The portion of the hotel now being constructed is 555 feet long, from north to 
south, varying in width from 50 to 100 feet, and four sbories high. To this will be 
added the large dining-room, the plan being in the form of a Greek cross with 
windows on ten sides and surmounted with a dome. The smaller dining-rooms, 
billiard-room, storerooms, kitchens, and servants' quarters will all be in buildings 
separate from the hotel and all fire-proof. 

The architecture is adapted from the land of the Saracens. The horseshoe arch 
and star and crescent meet the eye at every turn. Four corners of the whole 
structure are guarded by round towers, surmounted with swelled domes, and four 
. more towers at the angles of the centre building will be surmounted with minarets 
suggestive of the Mazurin and his admonition that " there is no God but Allah, 
and Mahomet is his prophet. " The roofs are flat, with long horizontal lines only 
slightly broken, after the custom of the Orient. 

The principal floor is elevated six feet above the grade, and the lawn slopes 
gradually from the house to the river bank. 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



35 



The house fronts alike east and west, and has spacious and elaborately ornamented 
verandas on both sides. The dining-rooms are at the end of main building, hence 
no back rooms or rooms into which the sun's unbroken rays cannot penetrate. Por- 
tions of the veranda extend up two stories, under which are small balconies connect- 
ing with the rooms behind them ; other portions of the veranda are extended out- 
ward, circular in form, and covered with spherical domes, surmounted with lanterns. 

The dining-room and the ball-room are each built semi-circular at their extreme 
ends, surmounted with domes, and surrounded with verandas on three sides each, the 




y 



\TKeleaJ>o/Juaii/Vdiaa) 



floors of which are level with the floors of the apartments, with windows six feet 
wide opening to the floor, without any obstructions of any kind. The verandas will 
also be extended and form two port cocheres, one to accommodate carriages, the other 
to be used by the cars that will convey passengers to and from the railroad station. 

The exterior walls are of dark red bricks, with buff and red brick arches and stone 
sill and belt courses. The cornices will be principally of stone and iron, the piazza 
columns of steel supported on piers of cut stone imported from the British West 
India Islands. 

The main entrances are alike on the east and west fronts, and on each through 
three pairs of double doors ; the doorways are guarded by sixteen polished granite 
columns supporting Moorish arches, over which are balconies opening from the 
gallery around the rotunda at the second floor. 

The rotunda is about seventy -five feet square, two stories high, and has two rows 
of coupled polished granite columns. The corridors vary in width from eleven to 



36 AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 

eighteen feet. The drawing-room, which is forty by seventy -five feet, and the writing 
and reading rooms, are separated from the rotunda and corridors by single plate 
glasses, eight feet wide, and reaching from floor to ceilings, opposite which are 
mirrors of the same size. 

The principal staircases will be of iron. Passenger and baggage elevators, stear- 
heat, open wood fireplaces, electric lights, and all the latest improvements will be 
introduced. 

The rooms are arranged in suites and single, with a private bath to about every 
three rooms. Nearly every room has a fireplace and large clothes-room. 

There are sixteen suites containing double parlors, nineteen by twenty -four feet 
each, with three bedrooms and two baths ; some are arranged with private halls on 
the "flat " plan. There are dozens of single parlors with one or more bedrooms and 
baths attached. Other rooms have long windows, private piazzas, balconies and 
circular niches, fifteen feet diameter, with windows in three sides. 

All apartments on the first floor are connected with the corridor by arches six feet 
wide, thirteen feet high, the lower parts of which will be screened with ornamental 
cabinet work similar to that found in the palaces of Andalusia. 

In finishing and furnishing the guests' parlors and rooms, there will be floors of 
marble tile, marquetry and of plain wood, and floors with mattings, carpets and 
rugs for those who prefer them, while the styles, material and colors of the furniture 
will be in as great variety. 

No tourist hotel yet built has an equal extent of rotunda, parlors, reception-rooms, 
etc., etc., connected and appearing as one grand reception-hall, nor has any hotel 
yet introduced plate-glass screens and mirrors as liberally as they will be found here. 

Spanish furniture and decorations from Barcelona and Cadiz will prevail in the 
drawing-rooms and parlors. Earthen ranges and full sets of Spanish culinary 
utensils will be introduced into the kitchen in addition to the so-called French 
ranges, and will be presided over by Spanish cooks. 

If you will, Castilian food will be served, while the thrifty Catalonian will under- 
take to quench your thirst with anything from the Avater of a green cocoanut, tamo- 
rindo or orchatta to the incomparable wines of the realms of his infantile Majesty 
Alfonso XIII. 

A Mexican band will discourse music while you dine in the only hotel in the 
United States that will or can serve a liberal variety of fresh vegetables every day 
throughout the winter to the total exclusion of canned products, 

We have written a part of what we can learn about what is now being done. We 
might write more, and there is more to write about than we can write, but the 
architect does not see fit to disclose all the plans to anyone. The plans of the build- 
ings are incomplete, although the building is nearly half finished. It becomes more 
expensive as it approaches completion. 

Tampa is fast becoming a city of cigars, bidding to rival her neighbor Havana, as 
fine cigars being made as in that city. Prove this by your own smoking, and if you 
would extend the proof to friends at home, remember that the Southern Express will 
deliver a box to any part of the United States. There is no duty on Tampa cigars, 

Tampa has some pages in the earliest history of the couutry, and is a place of 
legend and romance. The story of the Indian 

KING HTREIHIGUA'S DAUGHTEK, 

rivals that of Powhattan and Pocahontas ; a prettier tale in itself, with a hero of a 
more romantic name than Smith. It was Juan Ortiz, whom the king made captive, 
and bethought him of a roast, Ortiz being young and tender ; but being young and 
tender, Hirrihigua's daughter bethought her of sweeter uses for this young man ; 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



37 



argued the case with the old man, and finally persuaded him to desist from the in- 
tended dinner, and before the roast was even under-done, the pale-faced prisoner was 
removed from the gridiron 
of poles, and the Princess 
ministered to him, and her- 
self cared for his hurts. 

This story does not end 
as in a novel. The couple 
thus met by chance, and, 
under such adverse circum- 
stances, did not marry and 
become the progenitors of 
so many first families as in 
Virginia. 

The King, either got 
hungry again, or repented 
him of his mercy, and once 
more condemned his pos- 
sible son-in-law to death. 
And yet, once more, the 
Princess (the chronicler, by 
some impious disregard of 
modern curiosity, does not 
give her name), came to 
Ortiz's rescue. She told 
Juan of her father's dire de- 
cision, and told him to flee, 
the narrator of the legend 
says, ' ' under the cover of 
the darkness of night, and 
guided him away herself in- 
to the forest, with a minute 
direction how he should 
reach one Mucoso, a chief, 
who was her affianced lover. 
This Mucoso appears to 
have been a man God made 
— a man rooted in honor. 
He consented to protect 
Ortiz ; and, having once 
undertaken, carried out his 
word with fidelity under 
temptations that would 
have shaken a Christian 
mightily. For it was not 
long before Hirrihigua de- 
manded the return of Ortiz. 
Mucoso refused. Hirrihigua put on the screws. Mucoso could not have his daugh- 
ter unless he gave vl\* the prisoner ; still Mucoso refused. He refused to the end ; 
and to the end Hirrihigua's daughter upheld him in his refusal ; and to the end this 
savage man and woman, for pure honor, expended their love's happiness to save a 
foreigner who had come to conquer them." 




A MEXICAN GIRL. 



38 AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



I do not say all this occurred in Tampa — like the old Sergeant (of most happy 
memory) of St. Augustine, "I wasn't there and didn't see it." But the scene of the 
pretty story is alleged at Tampa. 

In this delightful, balmy air some days that are like spring days may be whiled 
away and most pleasantly, or a whole season, if it were not that we are en route for 
Havana and must hence to 

PORT TAMPA, 

where embark. To avoid lighterage and a transfer of passengers from the cars to the 
ship, the railway was extended down the bay to opposite deep water, and a long pier 
biTilt out to the channel and tracks laid so that trains could run alongside the ship. 

On the pier over the water, at high or low tide, always over the water, is built an 
inn. A unique little house with excellent accommodations for thirty or forty people, 
where tourists may wait and rest, or wait for trains or ships, if ever need be. The 
Inn on the Pier at Port Tampa must become a resort for fishers and hunters up and 
down the coast, and as they stop at the Inn, need not lose any time, but fish from 
the galleries or a bedroom window. Tlie Inn is new, but it has its fish story, a 
tarpon story. A tarpon over six feet long has been taken by hook and line held on 
the pier. While the Inn was intended for accommodation of through passengers 
between this country and Cuba, it is not confined to their uses. It is a resort for 
tourists also, and this Inn being on the pier, is the peer of any Inn in the country. 

Now the anchor is weighed, all sail is set, and the good ship is headed for Key 
West. 

The ships "Mascotte" and "Olivette" leave Port Tampa on the arrival of the 
West India Fast Mail with the through sleeper from New York, which is at night. The 
electric search-light shows the dim outline of the shore, the islands and keys down 
the bay, and the buoys which mark the way. The first hours of the voyage are as plain 
and easy sailing as on a lake, though the first look from a state-room window in the 
morning shows only water, water everywhere — and land nowhere to be seen . Some- 
times, when the day is very clear, looking from the port side a distant palm may be 
seen far to the eastward, on an island, or perhaps the coast of Florida ; and shortly 
after noon a sharp lookout ahead and a little to the port side will show some more 
palm trees, at first only little specks between sky and water ; these are on the Florida 
Keys, and very soon Key West is designated. The palms grow taller, and then the 
shore line comes to view, and every moment is of interest till the lines are made fast 
to the pier at Key West. 

The steamers of the Plant Line always call at Key West, both on the going and 
returning voyage, for freights and mails. Ask the purser or captain for how long they 
stop — often there is time for a ramble or a drive around the Island. Key West is not 
an extensive domain, but what it lacks in acreage it makes up in tropic beauty. Here 
is found what is earnestly hunted for in all other Florida— palm trees, not palmettos — 
genuine " feathery palms," of which the poets write, and underneath them all, the 
plants and flowers that grow in the tropics. Some pretty cottages are almost hidden 
in the dense foliage, and are only discovered by the white paint with which they are 
all adorned. This is the most southerly of all of Uncle Sam's possessions and the most 
interesting, and that same sense of security which pervades a back county in Indiana 
is not lost on this little island in the sea — though I don't think this is the result of a 
knowledge of the presence of Fort Taylor — a huge brick house with portholes instead 
of windows, garrisoned (when I was there) by a corporal's guard, a lot of rusty cannon 
and some cows. The tourist is not impressed with a formidableness of our coast 
defenses by a visit to Fort Taylor. 

When the ship comes in there are a lot of carriages at the dock, just as if it was an 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 39 

American railway train arriving at an inland station. I don't mean a Fifth avenue 
carriage — these are rockaways, barouches and carry-alls, which have seen better days, 
drawn by horses that some day in the near future may do a grand finale in the plaza 
de toros, at Havana. The distance of a drive around the island is not great, and even 
with the vehicles at hand, the chances of a return to the ship in due time is in the 
tourist's favor. I remember one barouche drawn by a white horse, which in turn was 
driven by a red-headed boy. When I say driven, 1 mean it, because the horse didn't 
seem to enter into the zest of the drive at all, but he was persuaded by vigorous 
prods at the hand of the boy. I chose this turnout, not for its glittering get up, — 
really I don't know why I did choose this one because they all look alike — now that 
it is all over, and I come to think of it, perhaps there was luck in the combination of 
the white horse and the red-headed boy, anyhow I was back at the pier on time and 
enjoyed the drive very much. 

When the ship leaves Key West it leaves the United States, and though the 
distance across the Gulf Stream is short, is just as much at sea as if in the middle of 
the Atlantic, and the sensation as novel and pleasant — or otherwise — either way it is 
not for long. The departure is not hurried nor is the ship pushed to full headway, 
as no entrance to the harbor of Havana is made till sunrise, and there is no hurry. 
After watching the lights on the keys and the stars that are brighter in these skies 
than any other, there is nothing left for the night but ihe seclusion a state-room 
grants. 

If by chance your window opens on the port side when the next sun shines, its 
rays will come to you over the watch towers and walls of Morro Castle and Cabana ; 
if on the starboard side, it will light up the domes and crosses of the churches in 
Havana. The soldiers in the Castle have just answered another reveille, and may be 
the relief guards are just on the parapets with glistening guns and swords ; and if 
you watch the flag staff- — see the Plant colors run up, as if to salute the favorite ship 
of the Cubans, and announcing the arrival safe in port of returning friends, or the 
welcome of tourists to La tela de Cuba. On the other side the ship the city is just 
awakening — Havana don't get up early. The ship steams slowly up the little harbor, 
drops her anchor, and we are in Cuba. The other pages tell what to do now. 

After Cuba, then what ? 

The tour of the Island only whets the desire for further voyages in these summer 
seas — from Havana, ships sail to all parts of the world, and particularly to the others 
of the West India Islands. Tickets for these voyages and full information may be 
obtained at the offices of the Plant Line, in New York, Jacksonville or Havana. 

A TOUR OF THE WEST INDIES. 

The Eoyal Mail Steam Packet Co., under contract with Her Majesty of England 
for the conveyance of the mails, sails from Havana to Jamaica, thence to England. 
From Jamaica the tourist may sail from island to island on ships going on regular 
dates, thus taking up the winter in short sea-voyages and tours of the loveliest islands 
in all the seas ; return can be made to Havana at any time. 

ANTIGUA 

is the most important of the Leeward Islands and the residence of the Governor-in- 
Chief . It differs in configuration from all the other Leeward Islands, having no 
central ridge of mountains ; the main elevation follows the coast line, which is also 
varied by numerous beautiful bays. Specimens of various kinds of fossils and 
petrified wood are very plentiful ; there are also many species of land shells to be 
found. A delicacy belonging to the Island is the Mangrove Oyster. About forty 
miles to the southwest lies Montserrat, presenting on a small scale all the varied 



40 AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 

beauties of tropical scenery, being very mountainous, well wooded, and with 
numerous springs ; it is the headquarters of Lime cultivation. 

BARBADOS 

is the most windward of the Caribbee Islands, is most densely populated, and is themost 
thriving of the British West India Islands. The Island is about the size and height 
of the Isle of Wight, and from being cultivated throughout, and comparatively level, 
it affords more opportunities of exercise than many others. The roads are excellent, 
and many pretty drives can be taken through the Island. A few miles from Bridge- 
town, the capital, is a watering place, called Hastings, where good sea-bathing can 
be obtained. The highest land is in the northeastern quarter, which is hilly and 
bleak ; its greatest elevation is about 1,100 feet above the sea. Bridgetown has a 
Cathedral and some handsome houses. 

DEMEBABA. 

George Town, the capital of British Guiana, is a handsome city, containing many 
fine buildings. The principal streets are perfectly straight, with good carriage roads. 
The hotel accommodation is good, and there are, besides, two club-houses. The 
scenery in the interior, and up the Essequibo river, is most beautiful and romantic. 

DOMINICA 

is a large island, having an area of 275 square miles ; it presents magnificent scenery, 
and only requires capital and labor to become a flourishing colony. Its central por- 
tions are covered with high mountains. A boiling lake, hitherto entirely unknown, 
was recently discovered by an English visitor. The principal town is Roseau, on 

the southwest coast. 

GBENADA 

is said to be the most beautiful of the Caribbees ; it abounds in streams and mineral 
and other springs. The mountains that occupy the interior rise to 3,200 feet above 
the sea. In the northwest are successive piles of conical hills or continuous ridges, 
covered with vast forest trees and brushwood. Its mountains form many fertile 
valleys, interspersed with numerous rivulets. 

GUADABOUPE 

is one of the most valuable West India Colonies belonging to France. It consists 
properly of two islands, separated from each other by a narrow channel. The western 
division of the island, called Basse Terre, is the most important, and is divided into 
two parts by a ridge of very rugged mountains, extending north and south. Toward 
the south point there appears a mountain, called La Souffriere, or Sulphur Hill, 
which is about 5, 500 feet above the level of the sea. This mountain exhales a thick 
black smoke, mixed with sparks. The chief town of Guadaloupe is named Basse 
Terre, situated near the south end of the island. 

JAMAICA 

is the largest and most valuable of the West India Islands belonging to Great 
Britain, was discovered by Columbus in 1494. From the sea level on all sides of 
Jamaica a series of ridges gradually ascend toward the central ranges from which 
they radiate, dividing the great rivers, and attaining in the culminating western 
peak of the Blue Mountains an elevation of 7,335 feet. From these mountains at 
least seventy streams descend to the north and south shores, but, with the exception 
of one (the Black Biver), they are not navigable. The mountains are covered with 
many kinds of trees, and in the valleys are such a variety of fruit trees as to give the 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 41 

country a most fertile and pleasing appearance. The scenery of this magnificent 
island is truly delightful. The predominant features of the landscape are grandeur 
and sublimity. There are two railroads now, one on the south side to the village of 
Poms and then by stage to Mandeville, in the Manchester Mountains ; the other 
through the Bog-walk, so well known for its scenery, to the foot of St. Ann's Moun- 
tains, thence to the north side of St. Ann's Bay, or Ocho River's magnificent scenery. 
The roads throughout the island are excellent. 

Jamaica may be reckoned among the most romantic and highly diversified 
countries in the world ; uniting rich magnificent scenery with waving forests, never- 
failing streams, and constant verdure, heightened by a pure atmosphere and the 
glowing tints of a tropical sun. 

The rivers, including springs and rivulets, have been estimated at upward of 200 
in number. From the mountainous nature of the country, and the huge masses of 
rock that frequently obstruct their course, they are often precipitous, and exhibit 
numerous and beautiful cascades, bursting headlong in the foam and thunder of a 
cataract. The population of Kingston, the capital, is estimated at 40,000. 

MABTINIQUE 

belongs to France, and is the largest island in the West Indies belonging to that 
country ; its scenery is exceedingly beautiful. The two principal cities are Saint 
Pierre and Fort-de-France, where very good hotel accommodation can be obtained ; 
at the former place there is a handsome opera-house, and botanical gardens about a 
mile from the town. The Empress Josephine, and her first husband, Viscount Beau- 
harnais, were natives of this island. 

POKT-AU-PKDSTCE, 

the capital of the Republic of Hayti, contains about 21,000 inhabitants. The 
Republic of Hayti is the western portion of the Island of St. Domingo. The 
Republic of San Domingo is confined to the eastern portion of the island, which is, 
next to Cuba, the largest of the West India Islands. The mountains are richly and 
heavily timbered, and susceptible of cultivation nearly to their summits. It is 
probably the most fertile spot in the West Indies, whilst its excellent harbors offer 
considerable facilities to foreign trade. The principal productions are mahogany, 
logwood, coffee, cotton, tobacco and sugar. 

ST. KITTS 

is the oldest of the British colonies in the West Indies. Mount Misery, the highest 
peak of the central ridge of mountains, 4,000 feet above the sea level, is of tolerably 
easy ascent ; it is a mass of rock projecting from the lip of a large crater, the descent 
into which is a work of some toil, but well worth making. Volcanic action is by no 
means extinct, there being a short distance up one side of the crater hundreds of 
sulphurous jets too hot for the hand to be held over them. After heavy rains the 
bottom of the crater becomes a lake of several acres in extent, with a mean depth of 
five or six feet. Across the main ridge there is a pathway practicable for mules or 
ponies, which served for communication between the English settlements on the 
opposite side of the island at the time when it was partly in French occupation. 
Brimstone Hill, standing close to the shore, and looking as though pitched there out 
of the crater whose bowl it would about fill up, has upon it the remains of magnifi- 
cent fortifications, no longer applied to any use ; before the days of rifled artillery 
the fortress was looked upon as impregnable — the Gibraltar of the West Indies. 

In the island may be found some two hundred species of well-marked varieties of 
ferns. Near St. Kitts is the Island of Nevis, where the warm baths supplied from some 



42 AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 

sulphur springs are held in high repute for rheumatic affections, and are resorted to 
from very remote parts. 

TRINIDAD, 

the most southerly, and, next to Jamaica, the largest of the British West India 
Islands. The chief town. Port of Spain, is one of the finest towns in the West 
Indies, and contains about 25,000 inhabitants. The "Pitch Lake " in the southwest 
corner of the island is a wonderful phenomenon ; it covers about 150 acres. Not 
only are the mountains of this magnificent island beautifully wooded, but there are 
several rivers navigable far into the interior, irrigating and affording communication 
with thousands of acres of land. The waterfalls and blue basin, both within a few 
miles of Port of Spain, are well worth a visit, and the hot springs and mud volcanoes 
should also be seen. 

The average American is in a hurry, but when he is interested, he will not go 
home as long as any other place is open, and while the longest way round is not 
always the nearest home, it is often the most interesting, and with this idea in view, 
it is suggested to take a sail to Vera Cruz, and return to the United States 

THROUGH MEXICO. 

Steamers leave Havana at frequent intervals regularly, sometimes two or three 
times a week ; some of them touching at Campeche, Progreso, and other Yucatan 
ports, but all going to Vera Cruz. 

The Mexican Railway from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico passes some of the 
finest scenery in the world, and from the City of Mexico there are three lines of railway 
to the United States, running direct, of excellent equipment, including Pullman cars 
to the border at Laredo, Eagle Pass, and El Paso, connecting at those places with 
other lines with through Pullmans for St. Louis and New Orleans, making the pos- 
sibilities for comforts of such a tour all that could be desired. 

IN THE CITY OF MEXICO. 

Some centuries ago, when Cortez came to the crest of the eastern hills, looked 
over the plain of Mexico and saw the fair city sitting like a jewel in the midst of it, he 
must have felt that there was his reward for weary marches and hard-fought battles. 

When the traveler of to-day looks from the windows of a palace car as it rolls 
over the crest of the Sierra Madres, or through the Tajo de Nochistongo at 
Huehuetoca, and sees the plain, the same old city and lake with the everlasting hills 
around about, circling it as with a girdle — sees the white-capped giants Ixtacciwhatl 
and Popocatapetl doing eternal vigil, a never-ending sentinel duty over all, he must 
feel that the journey from wherever it may be, was worth all the traveling. Mexico 
is more of a metropolitan «ity than is generally supposed or its appearance indicates, 
and the means of getting about, comfortable and convenient, and reasonable withal. 
At the railway station will be found all kinds of hacks, ready to do your bidding at 
all kinds of prices. They carry little tin flags which indicate the class of vehicle 
and the tariff. Those with a green flag make a rate of $1.50 per hour or 75 cents per 
single passenger for a short drive within a district ; the blue flag hires for $1 by the 
hour or 50 cents per passenger ; the red, 75 cents per hour or 25 cents per passen- 
ger : the white flags are the cheapest, being only 50 cents per hour or whatever the 
passenger will pay, and if the red or white flags are selected, it is purely from an 
economical point of view, with no pretense to style of rig, and with no particular 
desire as to when the destination is to be reached. If overcharges are made, and 
' Mexican hackmen are not unlike their American brethren, ask for the number — 
Numero is the word to use, and he will usually lapse to tariff rates. If a carriage is 



ABOUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



43 



wanted for a single trip, simply call the name of the place ; if by the hour say " Por 
hora," and the prices will be given as above ; green flags, " un peso y cuatro reales; " 
blue, un peso ; red, seis reales ; white, cuatro reales. 

, HOKSE CAKS. 

The street-car system in the City of Mexico is a good one, reaching all railway 
stations and nearly every point of interest in and around the city. Fares in the city 
un medio (6£ cents), to the suburbs un real (12£), and dos reales (25 cents), according 

to the distance traveled. These are first- 

class fares, the tariff in second-class cars 
being much cheaper, but are only ^ 
patronized by the poorer classes. 
The second-class cars are painted ^ 
green and follow a half block jf|| 
behind the yellow first-class jm& 
cars. 

The driver carries a 
tin horn, not unlike the 
campaign horn of the 
United States, and 
which he blows as as- 
siduously, as a note of 
warning at street inter- 
sections. Conductors 
sell tickets and a collec- 
tor gets on the cars at 
certain points of the 
route and takes them up. 
The street-car companies 
do not confine their ope- 
rations to the passenger 
business solely, they do a 
freight business as well. An- 
other feature of their business 
approaches the trade of the un- 
dertaker. Each line has its funeral 
car, black, with a four-poster pagoda 
surmounted by a cross, under which is a 
black catafalque. An arrangement of this 
kind is cheaper than the hearse and carriages. You order a funeral car to be at the 
nearest point to the residence, the corpse is put on board and the mourners follow in 
the other cars, regular or special, and instead of paying for carriages you simply pay 
so much per mourner. But this is a digression from the tourist topic. Carriages 
are necessary for a proper seeing of the Paseo and to save a long walk up a steep hill 
at the end of the tracks at Chapultepec. 

THE PASEO, 

or, to be explicit, the Paseo de la Kef orma, is the drive of the city. It is about two 
and a half miles long, reaches from the city to Chapultepec, and is a magnificent 
boulevard, where the bon ton are pleased to drive every afternoon from four o'clock 
till dark, when the magnificent procession of fine equipages files down San Francisco 
street and disperses. 




SPANISH LADY. 



U AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 

CHAPULTEPEC 

was once the favorite park of Moctezuma ; later the palace built there by one of the 
Viceroys of Spain (Galvey) was used by Maximilian, and is now the residence of the 
President, the Mexican White House. The park and hill was the scene of a conflict 
between the United States troops and Mexicans in 1847, when the hill was carried by 
assault. Besides the presidential residence, the National Military Academy is also 
located here. A pass to the buildings may be had from the Governor of the National 
Palace in the city. 

GUADALOUPE. 

Horse-cars run from the Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, to Guadaloupe half hourly, 
along the ancient causeway. Along the way are numerous shrines where religious 
processions were wont to stop for devotional purposes, but the cars proceed on their 
way to the village about a league from the city, and stop in front of the church at 
the foot of the hill where the shrine of Guadaloupe is. Passing through a little 
garden or park to the right of the church, one comes to a small chapel in the 
entrance of which is a fountain of pure, clear water, which is said to have gushed 
forth on the spot where the Virgin stood when she appeared to Juan Diego. Prom 
this spot around the corner of a narrow street, are some stone stairs leading to the 
shrine or chapel on the crest of the hill where Juan gathered the flowers, and is one 
of the most picturesque spots in all Mexico. On ascending the stairs, may be seen 
on the right near the top, what seems to be a ship's mast with sails all set, done in 
stone. A legend says that some storm-tossed sailors prayed to the Virgin of Guada- 
loupe and vowed that if they were saved from a watery grave they would carry the 
mast to the shrine and erect it there as a memorial and thank-offering — which 'tis 
said they did carry it from Vera Cruz, incased it in stone, and erected it where it 
stands to-day. 

On the line to Tacuba, which was once a causeway, is the place of "el salto de 
Alvarado " (the leap of Alvarado), where that warrior made his famous leap for life. 
The exact spot, as shown, is in front of the Tivoli del Eliseo. At the end of the cause- 
way, near the church of St. Esteban, is the tree of Noche Triste (the dismal night), 
where Cortez sat down and cried after his defeat. The tree is a giant ahuehuete or 
cypress, of great age, now enclosed with an iron rail to prevent a recurrence of fur- 
ther vandalism, as occurred some years ago, by a crank having set it on fire. There 
are cranks in Mexico, too. 

The floating gardens, Chinampas, on the Viga canal, are reached by horse-cars from 
the Plaza Mayor, near the Cathedral, to Embarcadero, and thence by canoe for a few 
hours or for a day. 

THE CATHEDEAL AND THE CHUBCHES. 

It is not expected to describe them here, there are one hundred and twenty-seven 
of them, and it is a never-ending tale of towers, bells, crosses, images, pictures and 
legends from beginning to end, from San Domingo, of Inquisition fame, and San 
Hipolito, mentioned with the slaughter of the noclie triste, to the Cathedral, which is 
a grand aggregation of all styles and designs of church architecture in Mexico, so 
that any detail of the story cannot be expected here. 

The Mint, the National Palace, the National Museum, are all places of interest, 
in the centre of the city, which can be visited in the walks about town. The Museum 
is rich in antiquities of bygone ages, and the relics of fallen and past dynasties in the 
country's history, which must be older than Egypt, reading from examples of Aztec 
picture writing, Moctezuma's shield and the statue of Huitzilopochtli , the god of war, 
down to Maxmilian's coach of state and his dinner service. 

In the National Library are over 200,000 volumes, in all languages. Old books 



AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 



45 



1571. There is a book 
tez. A roll of deer- 
pictures) sent by 
Cortez. There are 
with every old En- 
books of all ages 
turesque B. & O., 



and new ; books over 400 years old ; books on vellum and parchment ; books that 
the British Museum has not got, but would like to have. There is an atlas of Eng- 
land, printed in Amsterdam in 1659, with steel plates and in colors that are as bright 
and fresh as if just off the press. Another volume bears date of 1472, and another is 
still older, printed in two colors, with a most perfect register. There^is a Spanish 
and Mexican dictionary, printed in Mexico in 
of autographs of notables and soldiers of Cor- 
skin shows some original dispatches (painted 
Moctezuma to his allies, but intercepted by 
original manuscripts and immense volumes 
glish letter done with a pen. There are rare 
and nations, from a Chinese dictionary to Pic- 
and a copy of the Pointer. 

The Monte Piedad is the national " uncle " 
of the impecunious Mexican ; here he brings 
his pledges and borrows what they will bring. 
The institution was established to lend money 
on collateral at a low rate of interest, 
and is under direct control of the 
Government. Unredeemed pledges 
are exposed for sale at a certain price ; 
if not sold within a given time they 
are marked lower, and after a while still 
lower, and thus often some rare bar- 
gains in old jewels 
and heirlooms 
are obtained. ^^ 

{ #« 



The thea- 
tres are the 
Principal, 
Arbeu, 
National, 
Alarcon 
and Hi- 
dalgo, 
which, 
with Or- v 
rin's Cir-|\l 
cus forms 
amuse- 
ment for 
the city, ei> 
cepting always 
the bull fights 
The non-Spanish 
speaking 
American 
will hard- 
ly be a- 

mused at jr; 

the theatres, but at the cir 
cus cannot fail to be pleased 




46 AROUND THE CORNER TO CUBA. 

The Alameda and the Zocalo are the places of resort by the people at all times, 
where they come for rest and recreation, come to walk under the shade of the trees . 
or sit among the flowers, and listen to the melodies of their country, listen to music 
that is the gift of the Government to its people. On Sundays and feast days, and in 
the evenings during the week, military bands play at this park or the other, so there 
is music somewhere all the time. 

The markets are interesting to every tourist ; all the fruits of the tropics are 
there, fresh from the gardens and groves of the "hot lands, " only a few leagues 
away. All the vegetables of this country, and which are grown in summer here, are 
in the stalls there in January. 

And as to flowers — I have seen great bunches of violets in the glass-covered 
pagoda under the shadow of the Cathedral, go begging sale at a tlaco ; a handful of 
roses, worth a dollar each in New York, offered for a medio; a basket of flowers for 
a real, and one two feet high for a half-dollar ; I saw all this the day I read of the 
fearful blizzard at home, and wondered at such a climate that could produce them 
in a country nearly 8,000 feet above the sea. 

The markets of Merced and Volador are just a square or two south of the Palace, 
and a little farther on is the canal, with its waters covered with boats and the banks 
with the hucksters. The San Juan and Catarina are on the squares of the same 
name, all with more or less interest to the visitor. 

And last of all where you will go to are the cemeteries ; San Fernando contains 
the tombs of some of the Presidents, and its great soldiers, and is also the resting 
place of Miramon and Mejio, who were executed with Maximilian. Another ceme- 
tery near Tacubayais the Dolores, where there are some fine monuments. The 
Americans, English and Spanish have separate burial places. 

I have written of the horse-car funeral trains. I have seen other queer funeral 
parties, and sadder ones. I have seen a man and woman get into a second-class car, 
he with a tiny coffin in his arms, and I have seen two Indians walking solemnly 
along the street with a longer coffin on their shoulders, while the mourners, too poor 
for even a horse-car fare, followed on foot. These are the exception, the brighter 
scenes in Mexico are many, and one never tires of a visit to the ancient city of the 
Moctezumas. 

The Mexican National Bailway runs from the City of Mexico to Laredo ; the 
stopping places of interest to the tourist are Toluca, Celaya, San Miguel de Allende, 
San Luis Potosi, Saltillo, Monterey and Topo Chico Hot Springs. The Mexican 
Central to El Paso ; Queretaro, Celaya, Silao, Leon, Aguas Calientes, Zacatecas, 
Lerdo and Chihuahua are all fine cities of many attractions. The Mexican Interna- 
tional to Eagle Pass, passing those cities of the Mexican Central as far north as Tor- 
reon ; then on the main line of the International are Parras, Sabinas and Monclova, 
where stop-over tickets may be asked for. These lines are all under American 
managements and offer every facility found on railways in the United States. The 
management of the Plant lines will effect the sale of a ticket covering a tour of Florida, 
Cuba, the West Indies, Mexico and return to starting point in the United States. I 
have seen it advertised for summer travelers to take a ride of a thousand miles 
through the Colorado mountains, and return again to the point of starting and the 
tour was denominated 

ABOUND THE CIKCLE. 

What an "around the circle" this is for a winter tour; through Florida to 
Tampa, thence to Key West and Havana, to Vera Cruz, circling the Gulf of Mexico, 
and returning home through Mexico ; not one thousand, miles, but thres or four, not 
over mountains, but over summer seas in winter days. 





















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